Swarming robots that can act in concert and mimic the behavior of bees have netted James McLurkin, a 30-year-old doctoral candidate in computer science, the annual Lemelson-MIT Student Prize.

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McLurkin’s robots are programmed to cluster, disperse, follow one another and orbit, similar to the way bees work together in a hive. Equipped with sensors and radio equipment, the robots are capable of detecting environmental stimuli and of contacting the rest of the group, which can then collectively accomplish a preprogrammed task.

Such robots could be used, hypothetically, to operate equipment remotely or to monitor and correct environmental hazards. During a class project, McLurkin organized around 20 of the robots to play music together.