Ants are a fascinating study in distributed intelligence because they communicate with all sorts of chemical signals - behaving more like cellular automata than "individual" insects. So yeah, stuff like this is important because it means that they rely on their "programmed" responses more than the information they're receiving from their own senses
Basic science doesn't need a reason to be done. Even if it looks stupid we can't predict future uses from what is discovered. Even negative results in basic science research can be super-important as it directs to ask the next questions.
http://othersideofscience.com/2013...
Dude, let's put some ants on stilts!