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Termite-Inspired Robots Build With Bricks

Posted by samzenpus on from the build-it-small dept.

sciencehabit writes "A termite mound is a model of insect engineering. Some are meters high and consist of a complex network of tunnels. Even more impressive, millions of the bugs work together to build the mound, all without a blueprint or foreman telling them what to do. Could robots do the same? That's a question that has now been tackled by Justin Werfel, a computer scientist at Harvard University Today, he and his colleagues introduced a computer program that figures out how autonomous robots can make specific structures, including small-scale skyscrapers and pyramids, simply by following the same set of rules. The researchers started small, tasking three compact robots, or bots, with making a one-story, three-pronged structure all on their own, a job they completed in 30 minutes."

5 of 17 comments (clear)

  1. So... by msauve · · Score: 1

    Is "Harvard University Today" like "Harvard 2.0?"

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    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  2. Assembly line jobs are Really in jeopardy! by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Informative
    Pretty interesting linked video for those not averse to a perusing of the article.

    Are you three guys here or on strike this week?

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    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

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    1. Re:Assembly line jobs are Really in jeopardy! by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Are you three guys here or on strike this week?

      There are a lot more than three, someone started building an alternate slashdot, which was immediately slashdotted. I was one of the protesters, have changed my mind; as long as classic is here, I'm here. Why I'm not joining the slashcott.

      I am keeping an eye on the alternate site, because Dice seems to want to attract the kind of people I hate reading comments from -- barely literate luddites who hate science and can't tell their from there from they're or lose from loose. I'm already starting to get sick of reading comments in a NASA thread about how that tax money is all wasted, about how climate change is a hoax to make scientists rich, and the awfully offensive "Pshaw, first world problems."

      However, even if I stop reading comments in front page stories I'll still be reading and writing journals. Oddly, lately that's where you find the best comments, in user journals.

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  3. Several Meters High... by IonOtter · · Score: 1

    ...and several meters deep, with radiators, chemical condensers and heat exchangers.

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    [End Of Line]
  4. Bot Spray Next? by agrisea · · Score: 1

    So bots will build things and when they go out of control (like they always do in stories) who has made the "knock em dead" bot spray?

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