About This Project

Current swarm robotics research is limited by expensive, proprietary platforms costing hundreds per robot. We hypothesize that an open-source, low-cost design using 3D printing and affordable electronics can achieve comparable collective behaviors at <20% the cost. We will validate this by building and testing a 20-robot swarm demonstrating flocking and formation control, then releasing complete DIY specifications to democratize swarm robotics research globally.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Swarm robotics, where robots collaborate like a flock of birds, is a revolutionary field with the potential to solve major global challenges. However, the tools for exploring it are incredibly expensive and exclusive. A single research robot can cost thousands, confining this powerful technology to elite, well-funded labs.

This high barrier to entry stifles innovation. It prevents students, makers, educators, and independent researchers from learning, experimenting, and contributing their unique ideas.

Our project shatters this barrier. By combining the power of open-source with accessible technologies like 3D printing and affordable electronics, we are putting the tools of swarm robotics into the hands of everyone. We believe the next great breakthrough shouldn't be limited by a budget, but sparked by curiosity, anywhere in the world.

What is the significance of this project?

For Education: Students experience real collective intelligence - programming 20 robots to demonstrate flocking, consensus, and distributed coordination instead of just reading about AI concepts. This hands-on approach makes complex multi-agent systems tangible and inspiring.

For Research: True swarm behaviors emerge only with larger robot groups. While 20-robot Crazyflie swarms cost $3,000, our platform (3D printed robots) delivers similar capability for $600 - a 5x reduction that enables smaller institutions to conduct swarm experiments. Researchers can now study fundamental swarm algorithms, multi-robot coordination protocols, distributed decision-making, and scalable communication strategies. We're providing the foundational research tool (3D models, electronics, firmware and collective algorithms) for developing core principles that underlie all swarm applications, from search-and-rescue to environmental monitoring, rather than targeting specific domains directly.

What are the goals of the project?

1. Build robot swarm: Create compact robots (15x7x12cm) with custom-designed electronics, firmware, 3D-printed chassis, and ArUco markers for vision-based tracking. Each robot is controlled via MQTT protocol through WiFi.

2. Real collective behaviours: Using ScaFi [1] research software—a paradigm for programming distributed systems—we'll demonstrate flocking and formation control. Our external vision system tracks all robots simultaneously, enabling precise swarm coordination for European Researcher Night demonstrations.

3. Release open-source toolkit: Publish refined 3D models, custom PCB designs, firmware code, ScaFi programming examples, and step-by-step assembly tutorials. This package enables anyone to replicate our swarm platform and contribute to the community of accessible swarm robotics research.
   

[1] Casadei, Roberto, et al. "Scafi: A scala DSL and toolkit for aggregate programming." SoftwareX 20 (2022)