Slashdot Mirror
Pheromone Robotics
An Anonymous Coward writes: "This is the official text I just came across: "The HRL Pheromone Robotics program aims to provide a robust, scalable approach for coordinating actions of large numbers of small scale robots to achieve large scale results in surveillance, reconnaissance, hazard detection, path finding, payload conveyance, and small-scale actuation." But it's the spooky image that grabbed *me*..." Here's some more on the pheromone-sniffing robots pictured, and some more information about making robots that hunt in packs. The page has not been updated for a while, but it's worth seeing.
I'd never be able to escape those robots on a bad gas day....
Imagine hacking these robots just by farting near a swarm of them ;)
1:9/-1:63! Way to go fellas!
If you put certain acids on ants other ants will assume they're dead
Oh I see YOU had a healthy childhood...
Ugh..Here we go again...
The HRL Pheromone *DING* Robotics program *DING* aims to provide a robust *DING* , scalable *DING* approach for coordinating actions of large numbers of small scale robots *DING* to achieve large scale results in surveillance *DING* , reconnaissance *DING* , hazard detection *DING* , path finding *DING* , payload *DING* conveyance *DING* , and small-scale actuation *DING* *DING* *DING* . We intend to accomplish this by developing innovative *DING* concepts for coordinating *DING* , and interacting *DING* with, a large
collective *DING* of tiny robots *DING* . Borrowing techniques used by ants and termites *DING* , our robots exhibit emergent *DING* collaboration *DING* . Inspired *DING* by the chemical markers *DING* used by these insects for communication *DING* and coordination *DING* , we exploit *DING* the notion of a "virtual *DING* pheromone," *DING*
implemented *DING* using simple beacons *DING* and directional sensors *DING* mounted on each robot. Virtual *DING* pheromones *DING* facilitate *DING* simple communication *DING* and coordination *DING* and require little on-board *DING* processing. Our approach is applicable to future robots with much smaller form factors (e.g., to dust-particle size) (hah, yeah right-- *DING* )and is scaleable *DING* to large, heterogeneous *DING* groups of robots.
We plan to provide robustness *DING* by requiring no explicit *DING* maps or models of the environment, and no explicit knowledge "explicit knowledge? What, the robots watch porn movies? *DING* of robot location. Collections of robots will be able to perform complex tasks *DING* such as leading the way through a building to a hidden intruder *DING* or locating critical choke points. *DING* This is possible because the
robot collective *DING* will become a computing grid *DING* embedded *DING* within
the environment *DING* while acting as a physical embodiment *DING* of the user interface What the FUCK are you talking about? *DING* . Over the past decades, the literature on path planning and terrain analysis *DING* has dealt primarily with algorithms *DING* operating on an internal map containing terrain
features. Our approach externalizes *DING* the map, spreading it across a collection *DING* of simple processors *DING* , each of which determines the terrain features in its locality *DING* . The terrain processing algorithms *DING* of interest are then spread over the population of simple processors *DING* , allowing such global *DING* quantities *DING* as shortest routes, blocked routes, and contingency *DING* plans to be computed by the population.
The user interface *DING* to this distributed robot collective *DING* *DING*
*DING* is itself distributed *DING* . Instead of communicating with each robot individually, the entire collective will work cooperatively *DING* to provide a unified *DING* display *DING* embedded *DING* in the environment *DING* . For example, robots that have dispersed themselves throughout a building will be able to guide a user toward an intruder by synchronizing *DING* to collectively blink
in a marquee-style *DING* pattern to highlight the shortest path to the intruder. Through the use of augmented *DING* reality *DING* , robots will be able to present more complex displays *DING* . Users wearing a see-through *DING* head-mounted *DING* display and a head-mounted *DING* camera that detects and tracks infrared *DING* beacons emanating *DING* from the robots will
be able to see a small amount of information superimposed *DING* over each robot. Each robot will, in effect, be
a pixel *DING* that paints *DING* information upon its local environment. The combination of this
world-embedded *DING* interface *DING* with our world-embedded *DING* computation means that the results of complex *DING* distributed *DING* computations *DING* can
be mapped *DING* directly onto the world with no intermediate *DING* representations *DING*
required.
I think I broke my dinger.
Bowie J. Poag