
Watch 1,000 robots in biggest programmable swarm yet - riaface
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-08/15/biggest-robot-swarm
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wehadfun
Previous discussion
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8178978](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8178978)

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rboling91
"But with an algorithm that allows them to assemble in parallel, then they can
shape up faster"-Could a variation of the Paxos algorithm accomplish this? It
sounds like the task of achieving agreement among several robots without a
centralized leader is analogous to the decentralized parliament described in
Lamport's Paxos paper.

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s_dev
What are the intended applications of such a swarm?

Would this apply to parking driverless cars, does it apply to avoiding drone
collision crashes midair at drone airports, does it have an application at a
cellular level i.e. blood clotting big wounds?

Sorry my imagination is on the fritz today.

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AYBABTME
I think it's more about the algorithm and the proof of concept than those
robots and that swarm having any application. It's a step forward in the
domain, not necessarily a finality.

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rch
Any details on the sensors and radios these things are using?

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mu_killnine
To me, this is equal parts amazing, beautiful, and scary.

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mhofer
why dont't the robots move at the same time? would be much quicker

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pavel_lishin
It seems like they need to follow the exterior path of the current 'blob' as
well as the destination shape as it's being formed. If they all moved at once,
it'd be pandemonium!

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thisjepisje
Bring on the grey goo!

