'Marco Polo' game used to develop robots

DURHAM, N.C., March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have used the popular children's game "Marco Polo" to guide their development of a system for controlling moving robots.

Assistant Professor Silvia Ferrari of Duke University and Associate Professor Rafael Fierro of the University of New Mexico said they have used the simple pursuit-evasion game in creating a system that allows robots to not only "sense" a moving target, but intercept it.

They said such a system has broad applications, ranging from security systems to track unwanted intruders such as enemy ships or burglars, to systems that create radiation or environmental hazard maps, or even track endangered species.

The main challenge facing researchers is developing the artificial intelligence to control the robots and their sensors without direct human guidance.

The research appears in the online edition of the Journal on Control and Optimization, a publication of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.