Scientists have created a colony of robots which behave like ants, able to intercommunicate and work together.
The “robo-ants” display communal behaviour much like real ants, and can follow each other through a maze through a light path left by fellow robo-ants.
The research, published in PLOS Computational Biology, revealed the robotic ants could communicate through the light trails they left each other, rather like real ants leave scent trails for each other.
This allows communal movement and behaviour – despite each individual robo-ant having limited abilities.
“Each individual robot is pretty dumb,” Richard Garnier, lead researcher on the study, for the New Jersey Institute of Technology, told the BBC.
“They have very limited memory and limited processing power… By themselves, each robot would just move around randomly and get lost… but [they] are able to work together and communicate,” said Garnier, explaining how the light-sensor antennae attached to the robots help them to follow trails left by previous “ants”.
During the study, researchers followed the robots’ activities and projected a spot of light along the ants’ path, creating a signposted trail for other robo-ants to follow. Using their light-sensors, the following robo-ants understood which path to follow.
The robo-ants are in fact small cube-like robots equipped with wheels for movement, and as such do not look like real ants.
