Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology say their insights into ant cooperation could improve the cooperation and coordination of large swarms of robots. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) researchers found insights into ant cooperation could be incorporated into the development of large swarms of robots. The team first placed 30 ants into a container filled with glass soil-like particles, and observed only 30% of the ants performed the majority of the tunneling. They then tested similar strategies with four excavation robots, only to find that a four-robot team kept causing congestion unless at least one robot remained idle. Georgia Tech's Daniel Goldman says the implication is that when groups of individuals cooperate, the best strategy may be for some to hang back.

Too many cooks spoil the broth, and the same goes for ants. A study into how ants cooperate has found that the optimum strategy is for most of them not to do any work. The findings may be useful for creating large swarms of robots. Ants create networks of narrow underground tunnels by excavating soil bit by bit as a team.