Linux on a mission / SRI teaches robots how to communicate

It took two robots five minutes, more or less, to locate a penguin at Moscone Center on Wednesday.

Granted, any idiot — human or animatronic — could have found a penguin there pretty easily this week, since the bird is a ubiquitous icon featured in the logo of the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. Conference-goers carry wires with foam penguins bobbing at the ends, inflated and stuffed penguins are piled on most flat surfaces, and two-dimensional penguins adorn shirts and bags all over the trade show.

But these robots are no idiots. They’re part of a government-funded Silicon Valley research project aiming to create a 100-robot swarm that could help rescue hostages, detect chemical attacks or remove people from burning buildings.

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