A swarm of approximately 1,000 autonomous robots has assembled at Harvard University. The tiny robots self-organize and morph into complicated shapes or letters simultaneously, which makes it appear like a non-human flash mob.

In nature, many organisms work in teams to perform tasks.

Scientists want to emulate that among robots.

A swarm of approximately 1,000 autonomous robots has assembled at Harvard University. The tiny robots self-organize and morph into complicated shapes.

Harvard calls them Kilobots.

They have three legs, and measure a little over an inch long. In the past, researchers were only able to get about 100 tiny bots to perform the synchronized moves, but now scientists from Harvard University made 1,024 little bots do the job by using a new algorithm.

James McLurkin, who is the director of the Multi-Robot Systems Lab at Rice University, wasn’t involved in the task but he did admit robot-making and teaming are anything but easy.

He commented “Building 1,000 robots is hard. Getting 1,000 robots to work together reliably is, how they’d say it in Boston? ‘Wicked hard.”

Once a command is given to the bots, they follow through without requiring micromanagement or intervention. They also correct their own mistakes, as nearby bots detect the error and work together to fix it.

While the technology is still in development, the researchers hope synchronized bots will someday be able to have a role in the construction industry and assist in the cleanups resulting from environmental disasters.