Researchers Reference Flocking Birds to Improve Swarmbots

inghamb87 writes "Scientists have studied flocks of starlings and cracked the mystery behind the birds' ability to fly in large formations, and regroup quickly after attacks, without getting confused and ramming into each other. While the information is cool, some scientists seem to think that the best use of this knowledge is not to aid our appreciation of nature, but to make more effective robot swarms. We've talked about swarming robots many times before, but usually researchers look to insects for inspiration."

Comments

Modelled after birds?

[Malevolent Tester]

Researching bird flight and it's applications: £2m
Developing autonomous swarming robots: £5m
Watching your prototype robots fly straight into the nearest window at high speed and die: Priceless

Re:Odd to dismiss it so early

[flyingsquid]

Perhaps the OP could consider that not all robots are human killing machines, and this kind of swarming/flocking behavior could be applied to something like vehicular safety. I've often pondered the idea of lateral lines on fish, and how quickly a school of fish can become aware of the motions of surrounding fish and other obstacles, remaining in formation but moving as seemingly one unit. How great would it be if robotic cars could react thousands of times faster than a human, and in concert, to flow seamlessly around a tire blowout, or debris that fell off a truck onto the highway?

Yeah, sure, like THAT will make a cool premise for a sci-fi movie...

Re:Tag

[gardyloo]

Perhaps something has gone wrong with the tagging system.

Re:Tag

[Bongo Bill]

Stop using that tag? Yeah. That's a great idea. What could possibly go wrong?