Here is a project called Atom Swarm, which is on the road to where I am looking... The idea being to make sound in the way that birds swarm - there is no structure as such and yet it follows a route determined by the group. To be honest though I still find this too pre-programmed (and such a small box, poor things!). However, it is great research, and they have made the source code available, using SuperCollider and Processing on their website. Will give it a look.
