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Building Without Blueprints: Termite Robots Can Build Where Humans Can’t
Termites are known for their ability to build amazing structures without a blueprint to work from, yet the mounds they build are tall, complex, and help other creatures living around them.
Justin Werfel, of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, set out to replicate the construction process demonstrated by termites through having swarms of small robots build structures in a similar fashion.
Werfel and his team created small reactive robots, 4.7 inches high, with a footprint of about 4 x 7 inches, and wrote algorithms and simple rules for how the robots react and respond to each other in all types of situations.
The robots can move forward, backward, turn, have pattern recognition, and were designed to climb up and down.
Speaking on the robots, Werfel says, “They do all of their coordination indirectly, by changing their shared environment.”
Werfel could be on to something, especially utilizing small robots on projects where it is difficult to send a team of builders.
For instance, if a structure has to be built on Mars or underwater, termite-like robots can get the job done quickly and easily.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these robots is that they only require simple instructions to get started on any job.
By studying termites, Werfel has mimicked the lack of complexity of the termite mounds, resulting in robots capable of building incredibly accurate structures with no blueprint at all.
According to Werfel, these robots can build in any place regardless of whether the location is dull, dirty or dangerous!
Tags: robots build where humans can't, termite robots
This entry was posted on March 11th, 2014 and is filed under Technology. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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