1. A method for dispersing a plurality of robotic devices, the method comprising: defining a boundary condition; computing, for each robotic device, a relative position with respect to at least one closest neighboring robotic device; computing, for each robotic device, a dispersal velocity based at least in part on the computed relative position of the robotic device; and operating each robotic device according to its computed dispersal velocity such that each robotic device attempts to be separated from at least two of its closest neighboring robotic devices by a substantially uniform distance not exceeding the boundary condition.