A group of scientists and engineers at Harvard are using Bristlebots to study swarming behavior. They have published an article titled “Swarming, swirling and stasis in sequestered bristle-bots.” They have a couple of supplementary videos up on youtube as well. There’s a nice writeup of it at New Scientist, with a link to a full pdf at arxiv.org.
Aren’t bristlebots just inside out versions of those old football games where the board, marked as a 100 yard football field, vibrated, and the bristle bottomed football players fought their way across the field?