Robot Swarm Shifts Heavy Objects

holy_calamity writes "A swarm of robots has been demonstrated that can get together to transport an object too heavy for a single bot. Each robot is loaded with the same simple set of behaviors but more complex intelligence emerges from a group interacting. Two videos show the robots in action, and using a more complex behavior necessary when they're set to short sighted mode and can't see the target location from the starting point."

Comments

It's a simple question of weight rations.

[Anonymous Coward]

A 5 oz bird cannot carry a 1 lb cocoanut.

Re:It's a simple question of weight rations.

[LiquidCoooled]

Wait a minute! Supposing two birds carried it together?

Re:It's a simple question of weight rations.

[ack154]

To keep this a bit on topic...

"Wait a minute! Supposing two swallows carried it together?"

Re:It's a simple question of weight rations.

[Marxist Hacker 42]

African or European Swallows?

Re:It's a simple question of weight rations.

[CodeViolator]

What? Held under the dorsal guiding feathers?

I welcome our new army of robot-swarm overlords

[Anonymous Coward]

I for one welcome our new army of robot-swarm overlords.

Re:I welcome our new army of robot-swarm overlords

[homebrewmike]

Oh yeah?

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

Hey - it had to be said.

But can they....

[krell]

But can they impersonate a T-Rex and mystify John Locke?

a HA!

[justinbach]

So THAT'S how they built the pyramids!

Re:Hah.

[gEvil (beta)]

I can get the second video, but not the one of them "in action."

Well, your office is clearly blocking material that's NSFW.

Re:Peep hole

[Eideewt]

The camera man had to hide in there to avoid spooking the robots.

slashdotted

[gerbouille]

Watch the power of thousands of /.ers! Individually, they can't crash a web server, but together - with limited communication and intelligence - they can...

Re:hmmmmm might need modification

[SigILL]

So, once its carrying your cargo along the path and begins to slide down a slope all the tracks will turn in unison to help carry it down the hill to its doom. They won't think anything is wrong because everyone will be pulling in the same direction.

Yeah, totally unlike humans!

Er, wait...

Management

[955301]

Looking at the video, try to spot the project management behavior that shows up towards the end once four of the bots figure out how to drag the object over. One of them just stops doing anything and stands out away from the group as if trying to think of ways to empower the resources to realize their action items.

It is this bot that must be destroyed before the future of robotics is harmed.

Re:Wasting time w/Humanoids?

[Quixadhal]

It has nothing to do with efficiency.

The Japanese have created humanoid robots. They will create human-like robots. These robots will be made to look exactly like female humans that don't actually exist. Once that's done, it's just a matter of time before we will all welcome our Japanese Pr0n Overlords.

This page was generated

[wirelessbuzzers]

... by a Swarm of Green Robots.

Re:hmmmmm might need modification

[DittoBox]

hmmmmm might need modification

The title certainly does. When I first read the header/title, I thought it said "Robot Swarm Shits Heavy Objects."