Control Swarms of Robots with a Simple Swipe of Your Finger on Your Tablet (VIDEO)

Imagine controlling swarms of robots simply by using your tablet. Scientists have created a new system that allows people to control a fleet of robots with the swipe of a finger.

"It's not possible for a person to control a thousand or a million robots by individually programming each one where to go," said Magnus Egerstedt Schlumberger, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Instead, the operator controls an area that needs to be explored. Then the robots work together to determine the best ways to accomplish this job.

In this case, a person taps their tablet to control where a beam of light appears on the floor. The swarm robots then roll toward the illumination, constantly communicating with each other in order to decide how best to evenly cover the lit area. When the person swipes the tablet to drag the light across the floor, the robots follow, and when the person puts two fingers in different locations on the tablet, the robots will split into teams and repeat the process.

So what can the robots be used for? In the future, a fleet could be sent to a specific area of a tsunami-ravaged region, or other disaster area. The robots could search for survivors, dividing themselves up into equal sections. If some machines were suddenly needed in a new area, a single person could redeploy them.

The beauty of the new system is that anyone can use it, and that you don't need to have a background in robotics.

"In the future, farmers could send machines into their fields to inspect the crops," said Yancy Diaz-Mercado, one of the researchers. "Workers on manufacturing floors could direct robots to one side of the warehouse to collect items, then quickly direct them to another area if the need changes."

The findings are published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

Want to see the swarm for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.

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