The 1,000-robot swarm

The first 1,000-robot flash mob has assembled at Harvard University. "Form a sea-star shape," directs a computer scientist, sending the command to 1,024 little'bots simultaneously via an infrared light. The robots begin to blink at one another, and then gradually arrange themselves into a five-pointed star. The "K" stands for Kilobots, the name given to these extremely simple robots, each just a few centimeters across, standing on three pinlike legs. Instead of one highly complex robot, a "kilo" of robots collaborate, providing a simple platform for the enactment of complex behaviors.