Studying natural swarms

So far this week, we have seen how bioinspiration can influence the design of individual robots. But the natural world can also offer a solution for multi-robot systems where robots need to work cooperatively.

In this video, Dr Roderich Gross explains what the collective behaviour of social insects such as ants and termites can offer the field of robotics. This is a subject we will return to next week when we take a closer look at robots working in teams.

Discussion

Can you think of any other organisms that work cooperatively? What do you think roboticists can learn from the way these organisms interact?