The 'table tennis robot' could become the first resident on Mars

At first glance, robots developed by the University of Colorado look like table tennis, but experts say these tiny mechanical machines may be the future of robotics, even Can help people settle in other planets.

The new robot is part of a pilot project, in which hundreds and even thousands of robots automatically coordinate to perform big tasks. They can be equipped with a variety of sensors and tools, depending on the task they are assigned to, and can be assembled together to form other structures, such as the oil spill trap at sea. or automatically connect to a space device (such as a satellite) after they have been individually launched into space. So far, the team has launched an army of 20 robots and hopefully they will be put into space where they can be used to survey living conditions and build shelters for explorers. future on other planets.

The first version of the robot was able to communicate with each other over the wireless network and the team created hundreds of simulations of what they could do together. The team has published online code sets so other researchers can develop software specifically for this new robot.