Researchers at Switzerland 's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne are placing tiny robots in insect colonies to see whether machines could be used to subtly alter group behavior to the advantage of humans . The team placed reprogrammed Thymio bots in a colony of ants to see if ant and machine can work together when finding food . The experiment is part of the European Union - funded CyBioSys project , and scientists said future applications could include search - and - rescue scenarios .
Researchers at Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne are deploying tiny robots in insect colonies to see whether machines could be used to subtly alter group behaviour to the benefit of humans. The team placed reprogrammed Thymio bots in a colony of ants to see if ant and machine can work together when finding food. The experiment is part of the European Union-funded CyBioSys project, and scientists said future applications could include search-and-rescue scenarios.