LARAMIE, Wyo. – A couple who work in the University of Wyoming’s Computer Science Department have received a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant to further develop tiny robots that could help clean up oil spills or respond to a terrorist attack.
The robots would zero in on the source of chemical or biological hazards.
“Somebody from the National Science Foundation came out here and said we had the best robotics work he’d ever seen,” Diana Spears said.
Spears and her husband, William, envision robots that would communicate with one another, relaying information back to humans or to a larger robot that would take care of the problem.