Harvard scientists have developed an army of autonomous termite-like robots that can build complex structures such as towers and pyramids without any supervision. Inspired by termites’ resilience and collective intelligence, the system needs no supervisor, no eye in the sky, and no communication: just simple robots that cooperate by modifying their environment.
The TERMES system demonstrates that collective systems of robots can build complex three-dimensional structures without the need for any central command or prescribed roles. The TERMES robots can build towers, castles, and pyramids out of foam bricks, autonomously building themselves staircases to reach higher levels and adding bricks wherever they are needed.
Each robot executes its building process in parallel with others, but without knowing who else is working at the same time. If one robot breaks or has to leave, it does not affect the others. This also means that the same instructions can be executed by five robots or five hundred.
In the future, similar robots could lay sandbags before a flood or perform simple construction tasks on Mars, researchers said.
Picture Credit : Google
