Our favorite manhacks, the Quadcopters, are currently building a 1,500 piece styrofoam sculture in the FRAC Centre in Orleans. The robots follow a pre-set plan but can sense each other in space and assess which pieces have already been placed, resulting in a ballet of tiny, flying machines that are about as smart as a barn sparrow.

Called “Flight Assembled Architecture,” this demonstration shows how far we’ve come from the early days of quadcopters and how much smarter these things are getting. I’m honestly waiting for the day when these things can swarm, piraña-style, and pick our grapes, apples, and occasional enemies of the state.

No video yet but if someone in Orlean can head over there and check it out, we’d be eternally grateful. It looks insane.

via PopSci via Giz