Space designs from ants and squirrels

Engineers like Dr Alex Ellery, head of the Robotics Research Group at the University of Surrey, are trying to find out how natural systems might inspire human-made technology in space....

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Dr Price explained that he has been studying the way ants deal with damage to themselves and their colony.

Working from this, he has devised an array of "damage sensors" which can be fitted around the outside of spacecraft, like skins. Thousands of sensors could pick up the smallest of disturbances.

Each currently can communicate only with the sensors next to it. However, Dr Price is working on a set of algorithms which will allow all the sensors to interact, meaning the system as a whole can act like an ant colony.