Termite-inspired robots
Termite-inspired robots or TERMES robots are biomimetic autonomous robots capable of building complex structures without a central controller. A prototype team of termite-inspired robots was demonstrated by Harvard University researchers in 2014, following four years of development. Their engineering was inspired by the complex mounds that termites build, and was accomplished by developing simple rules to allow the robots to navigate and move building blocks in their environment. By following these simple rules, the robots could construct complex structures through a process called stigmergy, without requiring constant human instruction or supervision. Background Social insects such as termites are capable of constructing elaborate structures such as mounds with complex tunnel systems. They are capable of doing so without an overall plan for the design of a structure, without directly communicating information with each other about how to construct a structure, and without a leader to guide them in constructing a specific structure. Roboticists have been interested in the problem of whether robots can be designed with the limited sensory and motor capabilities of insects such as termites and yet, by following simple rules, construct elaborate and complex structures. Robots As part of the TERMES project, the Harvard team designed each robot