Europe wants a robot army to challenge the U.S. and China on AI

At the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in southwest England, dozens of tiny metal machines were poised to dance over a shiny white surface in "swarming" experiments to track how they organize themselves and work together. The scene at the European Union-funded facility this week mirrored what the continent is now trying to do to compete with the U.S. and China in artificial intelligence, or AI. The European Commission said it wants to create a network of hundreds of so-called Digital Innovation Hubs like the one in Bristol. The aim is to help Europe's companies and scientists work together to boost research and the take-up of new technologies among the thousands of small and medium-sized companies that form the backbone of the economy. "The idea is that all these nodes will connect and communicate with each other, maximizing the impact of the technologies and expertise they develop," said Farid Dailami, an associate professor who runs the prototype hub in Bristol, which connects researchers and funding with companies that need robotics.