Editing Robot (section)

==== Swarm robots ====
{{Main|Swarm robotics}}Inspired by [[colony (biology)|colonies of insects]] such as [[ants]] and [[bees]], researchers are modeling the behavior of [[swarm robotics|swarms]] of thousands of tiny robots which together perform a useful task, such as finding something hidden, cleaning, or spying. Each robot is quite simple, but the [[emergent behavior]] of the swarm is more complex. The whole set of robots can be considered as one single distributed system, in the same way an ant colony can be considered a [[superorganism]], exhibiting [[swarm intelligence]]. The largest swarms so far created include the iRobot swarm, the SRI/MobileRobots CentiBots project<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.activrobots.com/RESEARCH/wheelchair.html |title=SRI/MobileRobots |work=activrobots.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212091659/https://www.activrobots.com/RESEARCH/wheelchair.html |archive-date=12 February 2009}}</ref> and the Open-source Micro-robotic Project swarm, which are being used to research collective behaviors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swarmrobot.org|title=Open-source micro-robotic project|access-date=28 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111025135/http://www.swarmrobot.org/|archive-date=11 November 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=149 |publisher=iRobot Corporation |title=Swarm |access-date=28 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927191006/https://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=149 |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> Swarms are also more resistant to failure. Whereas one large robot may fail and ruin a mission, a swarm can continue even if several robots fail. This could make them attractive for space exploration missions, where failure is normally extremely costly.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2000/12/40750 |magazine=Wired |title=Look, Up in the Sky: Robofly |first=Louise |last=Knapp |date=21 December 2000 |access-date=25 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626210619/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2000/12/40750 |archive-date=26 June 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>