Since the dawn of the technological age, and even before that, researchers have been fascinated with trying to mimic nature and natural behaviors. In the underwater robotics world, the robot of choice would be a small autonomous bot that can sink and dive quickly, without a ballast system. Researchers at the National University of Singapore […]
Here we are to talk about the recent popularity of robotic insects. I know some of you won’t be too psyched by the fact that people are imitating robot behavior using robots, but you also have to admit that insects hold certain advantages as well, some including efficient and stable flight, ability to hide quickly, […]
During the Tokyo Hotaru Festival, 100,000 illuminated LED spheres were released into the Sumida River. The swarm of lighted balls was meant to mimic fireflies floating down the river in the moonlight. The majestic sight was captured in some of the beautiful photographs below. (By the way, the LEDs were later collected and did not […]
It is a technological advance to facilitate the mass-production of micro-robots, which can then be employed as a “real” swarm consisting of more than 100 micro-robot clients. These clients will all be equipped with limited, so-called pre-rational on-board intelligence. The swarm will consist of a huge number of heterogeneous robots, differing in the type of […]
Biological systems, from multicellular organisms to social insects (“superorganisms”), get tremendous mileage from the cooperation of vast numbers of cheap, unreliable, and limited individuals. This lab builds modular robots, robot swarms, sensor networks, programmable materials to achieve the same end goal of creating swarms of cooperative cheap robots. This video shows the single component of […]
Imagine if you took pixels off a computer screen, zoomed in, and could watch as they moved in complex patterns in space, changing color all the while. This is what the SENSEable City Laboratory and ARES Lab have been working on. Called Flyfire, the single “pixels” are single gyroscopes that have a controlled flight. They […]
