Robots That Act Like Roaches

Robot Roaches

Miniature robots programmed to simulate cockroaches were able to blend into roach society, according to researchers studying the collective behavior of insects.

Cockroaches usually self-organize into leaderless groups, seeming to reach consensus on where to rest together.

With the option of two similar shelters, most of the group tended to gather under the same one.

Hoping to discover more about this behavior, researchers led by Jose Halloy at the Free University of Brussels designed small robots programmed to act like a cockroach.

The robots did not look like the insects, and at first the roaches ran away from them. After the scientists coated the robots with pheromones that made them smell like roaches, however, the machines were accepted into the group, nesting together with the insects.

Given a choice, roaches generally prefer a darker place, so the robots were programmed to do the same.

When given a choice of a darker or lighter shelter, 75 per cent of the cockroaches and 85 per cent of the robots gathered under the darker one.

Then, to see if the robots had really become part of society and could influence group decisions, Mr. Halloy and colleagues programmed them to prefer shelters with more light.

The result, the lighter shelter was preferred by the mixed group 61 per cent of the time, while the cockroaches alone picked it just 27 per cent of the time.

On the other hand, in 39 per cent of cases the robots, despite being programmed to prefer a lighter shelter, joined the cockroaches under the darker one.

I'm not sure if there's any value in this, but it's interesting to see how the tiny robots function and whether they're programming was adequate to the task.

Robot Roaches