#ScienceSunday #Breakthroughs2014 On the last Sunday of the year, we look back at the research breakthroughs of 2014 that have made an impact on our lives. #Robotics #TERMES During the month of February, Justin Werfel, a computer scientist at Harvard University, and his colleagues introduced a computer program that figures out how autonomous robots can make specific structures, including small-scale skyscrapers and pyramids, simply by following the same set of rules. The researchers started small, tasking three compact robots, or bots, with making a one-story, three-pronged structure all on their own, a job they completed in 30 minutes. Werfel and his colleagues envision autonomous robots building sandbag barriers to prevent flooding or doing other types of hazardous work that people either couldn’t or would prefer not to do themselves. Their approach makes possible the use of many simple robots, any of which is expendable, instead of relying on a few sophisticated ones, where the loss of one might jeopardize a project. To get robots to build specific structures, Werfel thought about how termites use a limited repertoire of behaviors to build their mounds.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 01:59:10 +0000
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