The swarm of robots communicate with one another, assigning roles as to how best to play the music. There are at least two optimizations at play here: first, they figure out the fewest number of robots necessary to complete the task. Second, of the robots deployed, they figure out the shortest distance that they can possibly travel.

The cool thing is that these optimizations can be modified and adapted on the fly too. The first half of the video below shows the robots playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise at what they deem is a normal pace. When they tell the bots that they can play it three times slower, fewer robots are deployed for the task automatically. When they’re told that the music needs to be faster again, more bots jump onto the virtual piano. They all communicate with one another using internal cameras, special “hats” and cameras mounted around the room.

Playing the piano is cute and all, but you can see how this kind of swarm technology can have incredible military applications. I’m reminded of Prey by Michael Crichton. That swarm of nanobots was virtually unstoppable!

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Developed by the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Lab (GRASP), these nano quadrocopters (or quadrotors, if you prefer) are able to fly in various complex formations, navigating through the environment with complex “autonomous swarm behavior.” The very sound of the swarm in the video below gives me chills.

I’m instantly reminded of Michael Crichton’s Prey. The thing with a swarm is that they have a “collective intelligence” of sorts, so it doesn’t matter if you take out one or two units from the group. They operate as a collective, making them virtually unstoppable. Where’s John Connor when you need him?

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