Swarm Rules

With the right rules, robot swarms can accomplish things that are too dangerous —or just too boring—for humans.

- Ivars Peterson

Robots can do all sorts of things, from vacuuming floors to assembling cars. Roaming vast warehouses, they can quickly find that book you ordered to make sure you get it overnight.

Robots are especially handy for doing tasks that may be dangerous, dirty, or dull for people, says computer scientist James McLurkin of Rice University. And they don’t have to be complicated or look anything like people. Large numbers of simple or specialized robots can work together, say, to search earthquake rubble for survivors or even explore Mars on their own, he says. It’s something like the way ants work together to move large crumbs or what bees do to find sources of nectar.