Patent ID: 7266532

Claim:
A system comprising: first and second autonomous devices for collaboratively identifying objects in an environment, each autonomous device comprising: a sensor unit adapted to sense information relating to an object; a storage unit containing object template information corresponding to the object; a computation unit adapted to process the sensed signals, wherein the computation unit comprises an algorithm to compute a degree of match between the sensed signals and the object template information; a communication unit adapted to communicate information relating to operation of the autonomous device with other devices; a control unit adapted to make a decision affecting a status of the autonomous device based at least on a result of the computation of the degree of match; and a mobility unit, which receives instructions from the control unit, and is adapted to move the autonomous device from one location to another; wherein the autonomous device is adapted to automatically move to increase the degree of match between the sensed signals and the object template information; and wherein the computation unit is adapted to identify the object by determining that the degree of match has exceeded a predetermined threshold; wherein the first autonomous device directly transmits information relating to the object to the second autonomous device, and the second autonomous device reconfigures itself in space, without human intervention, based at least in part on said transmitted information; and wherein at least the first and second autonomous devices operatively collaborate to identify the objects in the environment.