Tiny robots may think as a group

A US researcher says a swarm of tiny robots could be a better solution to accomplishing tasks than one big one and has made "ping-pong" ball-sized examples. University of Colorado at Boulder computer scientist Nikolaus Correll and his research team have developed a basic robotic "building block" which they hope to reproduce in large quantities to develop increasingly complex systems, the university reported Friday. They've created a swarm of 20 robots, each the size of a Ping Pong ball, which they've dubbed "droplets." When the droplets swarm together, Correll said, they form a "liquid that thinks." Swarms of tiny intelligent robotic devices could be for containing an oil spill or to self-assemble into a piece of hardware after being launched separately into space, he said. The "droplets" will be used to demonstrate self-assembly and swarm-intelligent behaviors such as pattern recognition, sensor-based motion and adaptive shape change, Correll said. These behaviors could then be transferred to large swarms for water- or air-based tasks. Correll said such distributed intelligence systems could someday accomplish even the most complex tasks. "Every living organism is made from a swarm of collaborating cells," he said. "Perhaps someday, our [robot] swarms will colonize space where they will assemble habitats and lush gardens for future space explorers."