Although each is programmed with only simple ant-like instructions, robots built by researchers at the University of Lausanne can exhibit more complex behavior as a group. The New York Times Dr. Cynthia L. Breazeal of the M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Laboratory created Kismet, a robot that is capable of child-like reactions. Birds do it.
Bacteria do it.
But robots cannot do it. They cannot reproduce themselves. That's one reason robotics researchers do not believe that robots will displace humans any time soon. Last month organizers of the Humanoids 2000 conference surveyed some of the participants about possible social implications of their work. The survey was conducted before the announcement by Brandeis University researchers that they had built a robotic system that designs and builds other robots.