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1、15August2014 Lastupdatedat 07:27Thousand-strongrobotswarmthrowsshapes,slowlyByJonathanWebbSciencereporter,BBCNewsEngineersintheUShavebuiltaswarmof1,000littlerobotsthatcanshuffleintospecificformationsoncommand.ContinuereadingthemainstoryEachoftheidenticalrobotsisgivenap
2、ictureoftherequiredshape,andthentheyworktogethertomakeithappen.Ittakesupto12hours,butthenthisisthebiggestthrongofrobotseverbuiltandstudiedinthisway.Inspiredbybiologicalexamples,likecellsformingorgansorantsbuildingbridges,theworkcouldhelpdevelopself-assemblingtoolsandst
3、ructures."Eachrobotisidenticalandwegivethemalltheexactsameprogram,"explainedDrMichaelRubenstein,thefirstauthorofthestudy,whichis publishedinScience."Theonlythingtheyhavetogoon,tomakedecisions,iswhattheirneighboursaredoing."Watchhowthe"Kilobots"collaborateTherobotsare3c
4、macrossandcylindrical-aboutthesizeofasushiroll.DrRubensteinandhiscolleaguesatHarvardUniversitydubbedthem"Kilobots"andbuilt1,024ofthemaltogether:thesameasthenumberofbytesinakilobyte.EachKilobotshufflesonthreestraight,spindlylegs,chosenbecausetheyarecheaperthanwheels.The
5、robots'arenaisalargewoodensquare,aboutthesizeofatournamentsnookertable,completewithedgestostopthemwaddlingofftheedge.BlinkinglightsAtthestartofanexperiment,Actuallywatching thewholebristlingcrowdisbunchedup theexperimentrun togetherononeside.islikewatching Overheadhang
6、saninfraredlight, paintdry”whichcancommunicatewiththeswarm DrMichaelRubensteinthankstoaninfraredsensornestledHarvardUniversityoneachrobot'sunderside.Thatlightonlysendsonecommand,however:"go".Like1,024smarter-than-averagesushirollsonabig,squarebilliardtable:Three-legged
7、KilobotsintheirnativehabitatWhenthathappens,alltherobotsstarttheirprogram.Thesameprogram.Arandomselectionwillstartfirst,iftheyareinapositiontomove:inchingslowlyaroundthetableandflashingtheirowninfra-redlightstobroadcastinformationtotheotherKilobotsnearby.Sothattheyknow
8、wheretostarttheshapethey'vebeenprogrammedtomake,four"seed"robotshavealreadybeenplacedinasuitablepositionbyoneofthesci