Swarmanoid 'Bots Rule Air, Land, Bookshelves

An anonymous reader writes "The notion of distributed processing isn't new, and its application to robotics leads naturally to the idea of a swarm of robots. However, most swarm-oriented robots are composed of many identical robots (such as The Kilobots). In this case, there are three types of robots: a 'hand-bot,' which can climb bookcases and grab objects with hands; a 'foot-bot,' which can drive around and carry the hand-bot; and an 'eye-bot,' which flies around and perches on the ceiling to provide a perspective to the other bots." Another reader points out an unrelated but also-impressive video of Kinect being used to develop a user-friendly robot assistant.

Comments

There was no "hello" - it's vaporware

[h00manist]

I doubt any of this will exist anytime soon. We still can just barely manage to get the desktops in the lab to cooperate with each other on most apps. And it is just software, and they are connected with cables, which are more reliable and higher transfer speeds. Or is there anyone here who manages to use distributed processing on most apps on their desktop?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_computing

Re:There was no "hello" - it's vaporware

[slim]

Or is there anyone here who manages to use distributed processing on most apps on their desktop?

I very frequently invoke a massive network of distributed computing nodes to perform internet searches for me. I expect you do too.

Re:Add to that

[arth1]

Dick-bots is a separate field of study, more commonly referred to as tele-dildonics or just dildonics.

Re:Skynet?...not anytime soon.

[MrQuacker]

That's exactly what Skynet would say...

Re:Buh bye

[drinkypoo]

Wasnt there a /. story a while back about some University that developed an explosive that also released a short range EMP burst? iirc the Air Force wanted to use it to make missiles.

You make EMP by energizing a coil wrapped around some HE and then blowing it up. At least that's how it's done in the Tomahawk cruise missile. Perhaps you could put a coil of super-fine wire in the front of a shot shell, and put enough powder behind it to vaporize it.

Humans

[mfh]

Human beings among other mammals are comprised of many many fleshy robots that make up our systems. When nanotech reaches an apex, it will mimic nature to the extent that instead of three robots, you'll have infinite robots in any given robotic organism. The more the merrier; this is a survival tactic for organisms when cells die off or become injured the backup cells take over.

When a non-cellular robot is injured it must rely on the injury being located away from its repair features or the robot is written off completely. Not so with nanotech! If one falls, there are millions to take its place with the same functionality.