Utility Fog

Utility Fog, or a Foglet Swarm, is an ultimate type of swarm robotics. Originally coined in 1993, the term refers to a swarm of microscopic, perhaps nanoscale robots, of such size that they literally form a thick fog when in the air, and quickly amass to a sizeable pile on the ground.

Each foglet in the utility fog is basically a tiny ball or polygonal sphere with connective arms capable of extending in every direction or withdrawing inside the ball. When extended, they connect to the extended arm of another foglet, and the connection allows both data and power to flow. Each possessing a tiny computation centre, and possibly a power source, the whole idea of utility fog is that the robotic swarm can be programmed to self-assemble according to any conceivable structure.

Connecting randomly at first, the swarm would in theory be capable of determining the current and desired shape of their structure, with individual robots extending or retracting their connective arms according to the needs of the overall structure.

It is a conceptual way of building, that could literally allow a building or piece of furniture to self-assemble just from pouring a bucket full of foglets on the ground at the desired location, providing programming instructions and a power source.

Equally conceivably, when the structure no-longer has a purpose, the swarm could be told to dismantle, and break their connections with one another, turning back into a utility fog where once a building stood. Of course, in some cases it might be better to make the connections permanent once established, to avoid nefarious use of this feature in an inhabited building, for example.

Nothing in the concept of utility fog, or the foglet itself, contradicts what we currently understand of the behaviour of swarm robotic systems. If anything, our understanding continues to reinforce the belief that these are quite possible.

See also: Particle Swarm, Swarm Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Swarm Intelligence, Ant Colony Optimisation, Ant Colony Optimisation Algorithms

Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.

Ant Colony Optimisation Ant Colony Optimisation Algorithms Collective Artificial Intelligence Foglet

Foglet Swarm Swarm Intelligence Utility Fog

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