A team from Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico is developing an army of cockroach-sized mini robots that can scour the snow surface looking out for radio signals given off from transmitters sewn into modern ski jackets. The miniature roaches communicate with each other constantly, informing the group from which direction they are picking up signals and how strong those signals are. The devices can then process each other’s findings and establish where the avalanche victims are most likely to be. The roach robots are fully connected via radio equipment: they also have (pretty flash, this) GPS receivers so they can compare their relative position and show rescuers the location of a potential casualtyIn trials, researchers claim that they were able to locate avalanche victims four times quicker than the conventional practice of mountain rescue teams with dogs. Humans, they say, can never cover as much ground as a swarm of robots and do not have the benefit of being constantly in touch with one another, altering search patterns depending on each other’s signals.