>"'How do you program a cloud of dust?'
Subsumption architectures generate an emergent swarm behavior. Genetic
algorithms can also operate on the subsumptive program itself.
Berlin asks.
>How do units synchronize their activities when they are in motion
>relative to each other and spread over large distances? How can
>communication be established and maintained in such a system?
Via cellular automata-style interaction with nearest neighbors, perhaps
overridden with acoustic SIMD or global instructions. In any case, one
has to forego absolute, deterministic control.
>IMO, these are many of the same hard problems that must be solved for
>AI and nanotechnology. MEMS seem to be a practical, near-term test bed
>for experimenting on some of these problems.
Yes it certainly is, but one problem with MEMS is high defect and
failure rates, with the 'dust' for example.
Forrest Bishop