The Swarmbots Are Coming 176
Roland Piquepaille writes "For its latest issue, Wired Magazine asked several experts to tell us how the convergence between technology and biology was transforming their respective fields, from transportation to art, and even redefining life as we know it. In this special report, Living Machines, you'll discover that the nonliving world is very much alive. This summary is focused on one of the seven articles, which talks about ant algorithms and swarmbots. "Typically, a swarm bot is a collection of simple robots (s-bots) that self-organize according to algorithms inspired by the bridge-building and task-allocation activities of ants." And ant algorithms are used today to solve human problems especially in distribution and logistics."
yeah yeah .... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:1, Funny)
Well, I feel safe for now, as long as they're just doing ant algorithms.
It's when they start algoritms for big, muscular Austrian men with deep accents [imdb.com] that I'll be scared.
Very scared.
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:1, Insightful)
Neo made it high enough to see blue sky and sun.
why can't the stupiud bots just build a stupid tower up a few thousand feet with a stupid microwave reciever, and launch a stupid satellite to collect solar power and beam it by mircowave to the tower which then transmists it by cable to the ground? Huh? Stupid machines.
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:2)
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:2, Interesting)
Because they are smart enough to know they may have missed some key element in their own design (ie: an evolutionary dead end) and that some day in the far future they may need humans for some unforseen circumstance.
It's all about genetic diversity, baby.
Same reason we want to save the rainforest now.
Let's hope the machines do a better job saving us than we did with the rainforest.
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:3, Interesting)
a) Neo's boss is Mr Rhineheart a reference to Luke Rhineheart who wrote The Dice Man back in the 70s, a book about a man who makes all his choices randomly by throwing a dice.
b) when fighting Morpheus says adaptation is not Neos problem, as Neo is only adapting within the p
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:2)
I feel dumb not to have thought of this myself, but then again so should the Wachowkis. The first alternate plausible explanation I've seen for the Matrix, none of this stupid battery bullshit.
Re:yeah yeah .... (Score:2)
Kill all humans... kill all humans *snore* kill all humans...
Hey sexy mama!
Thanks for the warning... (Score:2)
A good intro to AI... (Score:5, Informative)
The examples are especially helpful; they're written in nice portable C. I've been working on a little project to translate them to Ruby [ruby-lang.org]; porting notes and Gnuplot charts and such are here [rubyforge.org] and the code for the Ant Algorithm translation is here [rubyforge.org].
Re:A good intro to AI... (Score:1)
*** BAD PUN ALERT *** (Score:5, Funny)
Re:*** BAD PUN ALERT *** (Score:3, Funny)
Godel, Escher, and Bach (Score:3, Insightful)
Internet, Linux, Groklaw!
Ant people!
Non-news (Score:5, Funny)
We all know that. [freebsd.org]
Ant reference (Score:5, Informative)
lasers (Score:3, Funny)
So erm.. (Score:1)
Imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Imagine... (Score:2)
I'm not trolling...honest, but could that be considered redundant?
startling conclusion? (Score:4, Funny)
All you have to do is look at all the weeds that grow through the cracks in the sidewalk to come to that conclusion
Re:startling conclusion? (Score:2)
That's what you get for buying from a sloppy dealer. Mine keeps the weed and the crack in seperate bags...
It goes to show you (Score:4, Interesting)
Human nature makes us think of the individual before society as a whole. We could probably accomplish a whole lot more if we were all mindless drones, doing what had to be done to finish our jobs.
Of course there would be no fun in that, so luckily we have swarmbots.
I am interested to see the applications of these bad boys in the future.
Re:It goes to show you (Score:5, Insightful)
I have often felt that the individualistic drive, and in turn the resulting competition, conflicts, and all other associated factors have been one of the reasons why we (the human race) have been able to innovate in so many various fields at almost exponential rates.
When you have a mass of like minded, same goal-oriented individuals, the goal of outdoing someone working on the same area for personal recognition, or other persona gains (monetary) is truly a motivator that trumps cooperation without vision.
Good examples are things like the arms races, competing tech companies, etc, etc. These types of conflict or competition-oriented environments almost demand that innovation, invention, and extremely rapid creative thinking and development occur in order to stay in the running or at the top. Plus the motivation that someone else is always trying to take your place once you are "the best" helps keep people sharp as well.
I think a society of mindless drones would not have been much more advanced that we were whenever our species first started forming communities...some things would have developed over time, but I doubt at the pace that we have and continue to see today.
Re:It goes to show you (Score:1)
About competetive-oriented environments, they may have done well in your examples, but as problems and solutions become more complex, they may become too much for a single person to solve. Eventually, problems may get so complex that it'll take the brain-power of a a few people working together to solve t
Re:It goes to show you (Score:2)
I would also point out that y'all Randians tend to frequently ignore situations in
Re:It goes to show you (Score:2)
Re:It goes to show you (Score:1)
Too bad it ain't true.
[Insert evil laugh]
Re:It goes to show you (Score:1)
Re:It goes to show you (Score:1)
Re:It goes to show you (Score:1)
Re:It goes to show you (Score:2)
I for one..
wait! aren't *humans* the overlords ?
Re:It goes to show you (Score:2)
You haven't interacted much with management, have you? :-)
Roland Blogbooster (Score:1)
swarmbots and mars exploration (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:swarmbots and mars exploration (Score:1)
Mind you, we'd better make sure that there's no life on Mars before dumping a Lego ant farm on it.
Living? Hardly. (Score:1)
Either the authors are just pimping themselves or are entertaining some serious grandious god-like delusions.
No Virginia, there are no living ai or robots.
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:4, Insightful)
This comment you made just proves that you've never really thought of the question.
The question is: what defines something as alive or inert? the boundary has always been fuzzy, and endless philosophical debates on the subject have been raging for centuries and still do to this day, albeit with a little more material to try to answer it.
The short of it is: the conventional wisdom would be to define something alive as (1) performing some function, however trivial (i.e. transforming something into something else) and (2) being able to reproduce itself (from full sexual reproduction down to simple mitosis). The problem with that definition is that virii wouldn't count as being alive (they don't reproduce or perform anything without having invaded a host), and virii are usually considered the smallest thing that can be said alive.
If you extend the definition to encompass biological virii, you start defining computer ones as alive too. They, on the other hand, are usually considered "inert" (well, not alive).
etc etc...
So you see, it's not as easy as you might think... I invite you to do research on the subject before posting inflamatory comments.
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:3, Insightful)
And I say this having done research in Artificial Life (rightfully called the world's first and only fact-free science) and having thought about the question plenty. I personally believe in the
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:2)
I did some work on AIs too, and I don't have a particular problem conceiving that a computer program could be considered alive. "Being alive", while having no proper definition, is something people know instinctively, but the human being gets this categorization instinct from its biological experience and past.
If you define the environment as computers and networks, perhaps not simple virii, but more compl
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:2)
I agree with the original poster, the ideas laid out in this article are pretty far fetched.
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:2)
You don't need to be a great philosopher to consider far-fetched ideas, you just need to be open-minded.
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:2)
My thought process went something like:
Ok, maybe we can redefine life. But where does it stop? Can anything that affects anything else be considered life? No. (an arbitrary judgement on my part. But it has to be done at some point.) So I decided there has to be some reasonable threshold used to judge so that we don't just start thinking everything is alive. After all, every word has an arbitrary
Re:Living? Hardly. (Score:2, Interesting)
Emergence (Score:2)
EMERGENCE describes the way unpredictable patterns arise from innumerable interactions between independent parts.
Does anyone know more about this? How do people study it, what parameters are important, etc... I'm curious.
Re:Emergence (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Emergence (Score:1)
Interval ant algorithms? (Score:2)
Re:Interval ant algorithms? (Score:2)
#include
#include
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
swarming_happens_here:
fork();
goto swarming_happens_here
}
um... (Score:2, Funny)
So they've created artificially intelligent managers. Well I guess this is better than the real thing.
The house of next tuesday... (Score:2, Informative)
Although I suppose micronizing is where to be...if you plan to sell your immediate research.
I said it before... (Score:3, Insightful)
One of the most successful and well known drugs in the world is Viagra.
Sex sells everything, a
Wired != Strong Prediction Success (Score:4, Insightful)
This reached its peak with the "Push" edition of the magazine, which you will no doubt remember if you were a subscriber/reader at the time. The technology never really made that much sense, certanly not in the "world-changing" ways they were talking about at the time. Add in the "new economy", those Cue-Cat scanners and the (again) world changing supposed effects of satellite phones (just to name a few off the top of my head) and Wired has quickly become the equivalent of the Sports Illustrated cover curse.
Woe to any futurologist or technologist that should find themselves prognosticating within the pages of Wired!
Re:Wired != Strong Prediction Success (Score:1)
Re:Wired != Strong Prediction Success (Score:2)
Then I would give the aforementioned author the thrashing of a lifetime.
=------=
Re:Wired != Strong Prediction Success (Score:1)
Stuff like that never really happens the way they say. What? The sig? No, the triphibian car only flies "over water".
Besides, I thought that Wired jumped the shark in the first year.
Re:Wired != Strong Prediction Success (Score:2)
Re:Wired != Strong Prediction Success (Score:1, Interesting)
> should find themselves prognosticating within the
> pages of Wired!
True, Wired has gone steadily downhill since Conde nast bought it years ago.
It's funny how technology trends come and go. Wasn't artificial life, networks and 'convergent' behaviour was all the rage back in the late early 90s? Steven Levy and others predicted we would soon evolve AI (even consciousness) using genetic algorithms.
Christopher Meyer is really a business consultant who i
Smart Dust (Score:5, Informative)
Essentially, it discusses Kris Pister who developed Smart Dust - a wireless network of sensors, called motes. Each mote has a chip about the size of a grain of rice that detects and records things like termperature and motion at its location. The motes have minisule radio transmitters that talk to otehr motes. With a single network of 10,000 motes, the upper limit, you could cover some 9 sq. miles - and get information about each point along the way!
Anyway, here's a brief description:
innovationwatch.com [innovationwatch.com]
Here is the Dust, Inc. homepage:
http://www.dust-inc.com/
Frightening technology in many respects, but I can't help but smile at the thought of the brilliance behind it all.
Regards,
-pararox-
Re:Smart Dust (Score:2)
Why do ants get all the press? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why do ants get all the press? (Score:1)
Re:Why do ants get all the press? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why do ants get all the press? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why do ants get all the press? (Score:2)
I think you mispelled Open Source. *ducks*
Don't forget the Google pigeons! (Score:1)
The technology behind Google's great results [google.com]
Who are you? Gary Larson? (Score:2)
Talk about brilliant, Gary Larson is one funny and intelligent guy. We need a swarm of Larsons.
"PREY"... (Score:3, Insightful)
Crichton is one of those. As is Dan Brown, Robin Cook, Tom Clancy...etc etc.
Go check out "Prey," and it will introduce you to this technology in a "fun way," and even introduce you to the inherent risks and problems we face as these technologies emerge.
with all of these tech/spec guides for work, it's nice to dumb it down with a novel every week or so! What I like to do is read one, then research the techonologies mentioned, and try to determine if they are Sci-Fi, or the real deal. Reading them is kinda like brainstorming, and gives me plenty of random knowledge ideas for me to go Google-crazy with!
try it sometime...
Re:"PREY"... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:"PREY"... (Score:1)
and
are such good books that I had to mention it. If you have any interest in symbollogy, the history of Catholicism, the death of the mother goddess with the advent of the religions of the book I strongly suggest reading those two books. They're very entertaining to read with interesting characters and a good story with a ton of historical information. Here's a little tidbit, go search for Da Vinci's "Last Sup
Categories and Organisms (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that we will find 'living systems' everywhere we look, once we overcome the bias of the pattern matchers in our heads that make us think that our biases are the laws of the Universe.
Re:Categories and Organisms (Score:2)
When you say we might find 'living systems' everywhere we look, I think that's quite a stretch, and that there really is a difference between this type of contrived cooperation, and actual, beautiful life.
Artificial intelligence would have to make astounding advancements to even begin to b
Re:Categories and Organisms (Score:1)
I'd be very interested in what means or processes you use to derive these absolutes and universal absolutes, and what the difference is between them.
Re:Categories and Organisms (Score:2)
First of all, I sound like an idiot for not proofreading the quote you used!
In answer to your question: aside from religious beliefs, which I take it you wouldn't appreciate, there are several. The idea of temperature, size/length, and energy used to all be considered rather relative. More advancements have shown certain limits and constants that put th
Re:Categories and Organisms (Score:3, Informative)
Jelly fish are often decsribed this way. I like to think they're pretty much like other animals, but their "nervous system" is a bit more decentralized.
Intelligence in machines (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Intelligence in machines (Score:2)
The software is lacking. The robotics are lacking. But not the raw calculations per second.
Re:Intelligence in machines (Score:2)
Re:Ideas in insects (Score:2)
Re:Ideas in insects (Score:2)
You're right (well maybe). And I was talking about 'material' concepts like holes and other insects. But I once saw a film about two insects fighting. One was clearly losing because he was pushed back further and further, but sometimes it also gained some ground back on its opponent. But eventually it gave up and walked away. Now you
Re:Intelligence in machines (Score:2)
Weather is about chemistry? (Score:5, Insightful)
Similarly, weather develops from the mixing of oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, and other... molecules
What? Weather is all about energy, and is powered by the sun. Highs and lows are all about temperature, not the balance of elements. Mixing of elements has little to do with weather.
Sheesh!
D
Re:Weather is about chemistry? (Score:1)
Differential heating sets up temperature gradients on the earth surfaces which produce pressure disparities that drive circulation. Although water vapour is important in defining system behaviour its influence arises from the storage and transport of latent heat. The other species play minor roles with regards to heating.
Re:Get off it (Score:2)
Someone has to say it (Score:1, Redundant)
Related Ant algorithm site (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Related Ant algorithm site (Score:2)
bittorrent (Score:2, Informative)
send 10000 of these things to take a tiny piece of something and then they can rebuild it! mwahaha!
bring one.... one cow! go swarmbots!
maybe my ideas should be more gregarious, but eh. I'm selfish.
slash-bot == swarm-mod (Score:2)
Typically, a swarm mod (in other words - slash-bot) is a collection of simple mods (s-mods) that self-organize according to algorithms inspired by the karma rules, with addition of meta-moderation rules. And they are used today to
Proof again that Terry Pratchett is the Man (Score:2)
Hi from an of the Swarmbot developper (Score:3, Informative)
I'm one of the Swarmbot developper. I have been in charge of porting Linux to the motherboard of thwe s-bot as well as writing its system software. Let's have some interesting data about the s-bot
Direct links
http://www.swarm-bots.org [swarm-bots.org]
http://lsa1pc65.epfl.ch/research/projects/SwarmBo
Have a nice day,
Steph
Re:I for one... (Score:2, Redundant)
Yes, very funny.
How about "In Soviet Russia the swarmbots are YOU!
Oh wait, thats a little to close to true...
Re:I for one... (Score:1)
Shurely..
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!?
Re:Ever read "Prey" (Score:1)
Re:Ever read "Prey" (Score:1)
Re:Ever read "Prey" (Score:2)
Re:Ever read "Prey" (Score:2)
Ricky did try to infect Mike while he was asleep, but Julia stopped him. It wasn't clear why, but she seemed to want Mike to accept it. Perhaps it was just some of her emotions showing through, and she thought he would be safer if he accepted it willingly.
The ending definately needed a little more wrapping things up.
Re:Ever read "Prey" (Score:2)
Re:Only a matter of time (Score:2)
Re:Only a matter of time (Score:2)
Yes, but I, for one, welcome our posting-about-miniature-robotic-overlords overlords.