We should have seen this coming

So in Switzerland they have these things called "Swarm Robots" that are a bunch of little robots that team up with one another to complete tasks that they could not complete otherwise. Here's a video of them kidnapping a child:

Anyway, these little guys have been recently assigned to a group task to find "food" together. Once one bot located the food, it would light a blue light signaling for the rest of the bots to head over and feast. However as the bots evolved and "reproduced" over what are considered virtual generations, programmers began to see something completely unexpected in their mechanical subjects, they were beginning to lie to one another. Bots were beginning to shine their blue lights when they had not found the "food" or not shine them at all. Interestingly enough, as the virtual generations continued, bots would also attempt to deceive one another more or less based on how much deception had gone on in prior generations. If all of the bots "parents" were lying, then there would be fewer liars in that generation, because then no one would believe one another.

It got to the point that after 500 virtual generations some robots lied, some robots didn't, some robots still followed the blue lights, some ignored them completely. An interesting little twist as this is in essence animal behavior evolving in robots. Pretty creepy, huh? But in the end, we all know that there are good robots and bad robots, so is this really all that shocking? Are these little buzzers the the predecessors to Megatron and Optimus Prime?

While it may spell an ill omen for humanity, good for robots! This is one hell of a way to be spending your Bonus Time!

If you're more interested in these guys, there's a few more articles on them here:
http://www.botjunkie.com/2009/08/19/swarm-robots-evolve-deception/
Thanks to reader Phil for providing me with the link. Lotta robot news lately though, I'm getting a little freaked out.