资源描述：
《15 august 2014 bbc原稿》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在行业资料-天天文库。
1、15August2014 Lastupdatedat 07:27Thousand-strongrobotswarmthrowsshapes,slowlyByJonathanWebbSciencereporter,BBCNewsEngineersintheUShavebuiltaswarmof1,000littlerobotsthatcanshuffleintospecificformationsoncommand.ContinuereadingthemainstoryEachoftheidenticalrobotsisgivenapictureofthe
2、requiredshape,andthentheyworktogethertomakeithappen.Ittakesupto12hours,butthenthisisthebiggestthrongofrobotseverbuiltandstudiedinthisway.Inspiredbybiologicalexamples,likecellsformingorgansorantsbuildingbridges,theworkcouldhelpdevelopself-assemblingtoolsandstructures."Eachrobotisi
3、denticalandwegivethemalltheexactsameprogram,"explainedDrMichaelRubenstein,thefirstauthorofthestudy,whichis publishedinScience."Theonlythingtheyhavetogoon,tomakedecisions,iswhattheirneighboursaredoing."Watchhowthe"Kilobots"collaborateTherobotsare3cmacrossandcylindrical-aboutthesiz
4、eofasushiroll.DrRubensteinandhiscolleaguesatHarvardUniversitydubbedthem"Kilobots"andbuilt1,024ofthemaltogether:thesameasthenumberofbytesinakilobyte.EachKilobotshufflesonthreestraight,spindlylegs,chosenbecausetheyarecheaperthanwheels.Therobots'arenaisalargewoodensquare,aboutthesiz
5、eofatournamentsnookertable,completewithedgestostopthemwaddlingofftheedge.BlinkinglightsAtthestartofanexperiment,Actuallywatching thewholebristlingcrowdisbunchedup theexperimentrun togetherononeside.islikewatching Overheadhangsaninfraredlight, paintdry”whichcancommunicatewiththesw
6、arm DrMichaelRubensteinthankstoaninfraredsensornestledHarvardUniversityoneachrobot'sunderside.Thatlightonlysendsonecommand,however:"go".Like1,024smarter-than-averagesushirollsonabig,squarebilliardtable:Three-leggedKilobotsintheirnativehabitatWhenthathappens,alltherobotsstarttheir
7、program.Thesameprogram.Arandomselectionwillstartfirst,iftheyareinapositiontomove:inchingslowlyaroundthetableandflashingtheirowninfra-redlightstobroadcastinformationtotheotherKilobotsnearby.Sothattheyknowwheretostarttheshapethey'vebeenprogrammedtomake,four"seed"robotshavealreadybe
8、enplacedinasuitablepositionbyoneofthesci
