The robot revolution took another step closer in October, when the government demonstrated one of the world's largest micro-drone swarms.
At California's Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, more than 100 Perdix UAVs showed off advanced behaviors like collective decision making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing.
The test, conducted in the fall by the Department of Defense and Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), was documented on Sunday's 60 Minutes.
Each tiny Perdix—named after a bird in Greek mythology—is designed to operate as a team.
Designed by MIT engineering students and modified for military use, the devices are equipped with radios to constantly communicate with each other. They can determine and pursue a solution faster than a human, SCO Director William Roper told 60 Minutes.
"Due to the complex nature of combat, Perdix are not pre-programmed synchronized individuals, they are a collective organism, sharing one distributed brain for decision-making and adapting to each other like swarms in nature," Roper said in a statement.
"Because every Perdix communicates and collaborates with every other Perdix," he continued, "the swarm has no leader and can gracefully adapt to drones entering or exiting the team."
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Administered in partnership with Naval Air Systems Command, October's demonstration marked an early example of small, cheap autonomous systems succeeding where only large, expensive ones previously could.
"This is the kind of cutting-edge innovation that will keep us a step ahead of our adversaries," Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who created SCO in 2012, said. "This demonstration will advance our development of autonomous systems."
The 60 Minutes segment (video above) also touched on other new DoD technology, including the Navy's Sea Hunter, an autonomous submarine-tracking ship, and the Marine Corps' Unmanned Tactical Control and Collaboration system.