Build Your Own Teams of Robots with LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT and Bluetooth®

Chapter 9Advanced Teamwork: One for All!

The Lost Scrolls of Robotics: #9

We will add your biological and technological

distinctiveness to our own.

—Locutus of Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Episode 26, Part 1: The Best of Both Worlds

Recall that one of our primary reasons for putting our robots into teams is that no one robot can do it all. There is no general-purpose, one-size-fits-all robot design. Because microcontrollers have limited sensor capability, limited actuator capability, limited power, and so on, it is sometimes necessary to recruit fellow robots to get the job done. In these cases, enlisting a few team members will get the job done. But sometimes the answer is not to add more robots. Some tasks scream out for a single robot ...