Robots cooperating and communicating with humans working in labs while also effortlessly helping at danger zones may soon be a reality.

A new research done at the University of Sheffield in Britain leads this concept that has fascinated humans for a long time in fiction and has paved way for robots that take up important roles in situations of crisis like search and rescue missions or operate in areas where it would be dangerous for humans to work.

Researchers have created software using simple flying robots which are called quadcopters. The software enables the robot to learn about its surroundings by using a forward facing camera which is mounted at the front of the machine.

The robot starts with no information about its environment as well as the objects within it. By overlaying different frames from the camera and choosing key reference points within the scene, it is able to build up a 3D map of the world around it.

Other sensors of the robot pick up ultrasonic and barometric data which give it additional clues about the environment. All this information is then fed into autopilot software that allows the robot to navigate safely but also learn about the nearby objects and navigate to specific items. The new software used in the robots may contribute to a major change.

The researchers also used a computer concept which is called game theory to programme the quadcopters. In this, each robot acts as a player in the game and must complete the task given to it in order to 'win' the game.

If the robots repeatedly play the game they start learning each other's behaviour. Then they can perform their task successfully by making use of the previous experience to estimate the behaviour of other robots.

In future, this system could be deployed in hazardous areas where risks are too high to allow human workers like in areas contaminated by radiation.