Development of miniaturised robots for swarm deployment

Abstract

Robotic systems are becoming more popular in various areas, such as multiple robot systems (MRS) and swarm robotics. Swarm robotic systems typically replicate the behaviour of natural swarms of animals and bacteria. A robotic swarm is composed of a number of simple individual robots with limited intelligence, which work collectively to reach a complex common goal. Each member typically follows a set of elementary rules which are common for all robots in the swarm. This simplifies the task of adding or removing members to the swarm. This project focused on the identification of the hardware requirements and the design of individual robots to be used in swarm environments. The main objective was to develop a miniature robot blueprint with adequate processing capabilities, basic sensing, and basic wireless communication. Furthermore, the cost per unit was kept to a minimum such that a large number of robots can be eventually developed to test decentralised swarm algorithms. After analysing a number of swarm algorithms and reviewing a substantial number of robotic platforms, the required capabilities of the robot were identified and implemented. The final design includes the development of the robot structure, its locomotion, and all of its electronic boards including sensing capabilities and communication aspects. A couple of robot prototypes were then assembled and tested for correct operation. The results show that given the small footprint and the relatively low cost of the design, the proposed solution is adequate to investigate various swarm behaviours, especially those requiring short-range local communication between the units and the ability to determine the direction of messages received from other robots.