— We introduce the concept of Ecology of Physically Embedded Intelligent Systems, or PEIS-Ecology. This is a network of heterogeneous robotic devices (PEIS) pervasively embedded in the environment. A PEIS can be as simple as a toaster and as complex as a humanoid robot. PEIS can exchange information at t levels of abstraction, and share both physical and virtual functionalities to perform complex tasks. By putting together insights from the fields of autonomous robotics and of ambient intelligence, the PEIS-Ecology approach explores a new road to building assistive, personal, and service robots. In this paper, we discuss this concept, describe a first realization of it, and show an implemented use-case scenario.