"It took two robots five minutes, more or less, to locate a penguin at Moscone Center on Wednesday.
"Granted, any idiot -- human or animatronic -- could have found a penguin there pretty easily this week, since the bird is a ubiquitous icon featured in the logo of the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. Conference-goers carry wires with foam penguins bobbing at the ends, inflated and stuffed penguins are piled on most flat surfaces, and two-dimensional penguins adorn shirts and bags all over the trade show.
"But these robots are no idiots. They're part of a government-funded Silicon Valley research project aiming to create a 100-robot swarm that could help rescue hostages, detect chemical attacks or remove people from burning buildings..."
