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The wacky and brilliant folks at PARC are hard at work on modular robotic systems that can crawl, climb, walk, and roll. They can also transform, reconfiguring themselves into different shapes and methods of locomotion.

Watching the video of the robots in action evokes images of insects and other lower lifeforms, from which the scientists and engineers have drawn much of their ideas for movement. Given that each robot is composed of many simple, independent modules, it’s not hard to imagine thousands of these things, inexorably swarming over difficult terrain.

via Boing Boing