<p>A "high tech rave"-like performance piece happening tonight at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is actually designed to help campus roboticists create algorithms based on human behavior that can better control large swarms of robots, researchers told the Herald.</p><p>Doubling as an experiment, "UP: The Umbrella Project" is the second collaboration between MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and acclaimed, Connecticut-based dance company Pilobolus.</p><p>At least 200 participants will serve as "human pixels" by holding and using umbrellas outfitted with LED lights at MIT's Jack Barry Field. Pilobolus members will provide basic instructions and choreography, while campus staff record the resulting human behaviors using an overhead camera mounted on a boom lift, said Kyle Gilpin, a postdoctoral associate at MIT CSAIL.</p><p>"Robots are still very simplistic and it will be a long time before the intelligence of robots and the creativity of robots starts to rival that of humans," Gilpin, 30, said. "But this performance is one step of many that we think will help bring human-like intelligence and abilities closer to being implemented in robotics systems."</p><p><a href="http://bostonherald.com/business/technology/technology_news/2013/05/robot_rave_swarming_mit">Keep reading...</a></p>