Real-life termites inspire the construction robots of the future

US scientists showed off tiny robots that can tackle tasks much like real-life termites, working collectively to build structures without following orders from a boss.

The mechanical creatures can tote bricks, build staircases or construct a pyramid, scientists from Harvard University said on Thursday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.

Some direction is needed for the technological termites, known as TERMES, which were built as part of a four-year project that was detailed in the February 13 edition of the journal Science.

Rather than obeying direct orders from an overseer, the robots relied on a concept known as stigmergy, a kind of implicit communication whereby they observed each others' changes to the environment and acted accordingly, researchers said.

"You can give the robots, in effect, a picture of what you want them to build," explained Dr Justin Werfel, a research scientist at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

"And it doesn't matter how many of them there are or whether that number changes or which robot does what and when," he said.

"Together, they will wind up building what you asked for."