A Swarm of Robots

Did you know that a group of robots that work together to perform a task are called a swarm?   Robot swarms are no longer a concept just found in science fiction books and movies.   In fact, if you have ever received an order through Amazon, it is highly likely that the fast delivery was made possible by a swarm of robots that are programmed to work together.   Check out the video below showing the 45000 Robot Employees in action.

Who knew this was the way our deliveries from Amazon were dispatched?   I sure didn’t.

In this investigation, you’re challenge is to consider the following:

– Find out more about the specifications of the Kiva robots that work in the Amazon warehouse.     Create a drawing to scale showing the size of a Kiva robot.
– If all 45000 robots in the Amazon factory were placed in rows side by side, what would be the approximate area that the robots would cover?
– If you have access to robots in your classroom, see if you can work collaboratively with other students to program a swarm of robots to move in unison to different locations on a grid.

For Teachers…

These are just some ideas for how you could use this video to engage students in some mathematical thinking.    Use the comments section below to contribute your own ideas.

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