When you first think of termites, you might think of those pesky little bugs that take down your houses, right?
Well, termites also have another skill. They can build huge and vast structures, with amazingly little mental and physiological capabilities. Inspired by what little termites are able to build, Dr Justin Werfel of Harvard University created unsupervised, autonomous robots capable of building large-ish structures. With minds totally separate from the other robots (they have no idea what the others are doing), and no information from any central command, these robots have to rely on their own sensors to sense their environment and to build accordingly.
With these capabilities, Dr Werfel hopes that in a few years, this type of robot could be used to work in environments with the three D’s: Dangerous, Dirty, Dull, such as building levees to combat flooding. Looking forward a few years, perhaps decades, Werfel hopes that robots could be sent into even more places where it’ll be hard for humans to work, such as building shelters for humans on Mars so it’s there before the astronauts arrive.
Let’s just hope that they don’t make robotic termites that eat away at our homes.
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