SWARM

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ROBOTICS
Presented By

HRUSHIKESH S BHARADWAJ 1DS19ME063

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INTRODUCTION
 Swarm robotics is the study of how large number of relatively simple physically embodied agents can
be designed such that a desired collective behavior emerges from the local interactions among agents
and between the agents and the environment. It is a novel approach to the coordination of large
numbers of robots. It is inspired from the observation of social insects ---ants, termites, wasps and
bees--- which stand as fascinating examples of how a large number of simple individuals can interact to
create collectively intelligent systems.

 Social insects are known to coordinate their actions to accomplish tasks that are beyond the
capabilities of a single individual: termites build large and complex mounds, army ants organize
impressive foraging raids, ants can collectively carry large preys. Such coordination capabilities are still
beyond the reach of current multi-robot systems.

 As robots become more and more useful, multiple robots working together on a single task will become
common place. Many of the most useful applications of robots are particularly well suited to this
“swarm” approach. Groups of robots can perform these tasks more efficiently, and can perform them in
fundamentally difficult to program and co-ordinate.

 Swarm robots are more than just networks of independent agents, they are potentially reconfigurable
networks of communicating agents capable of coordinated sensing and interaction with the
environment.
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EVOLUTION

 Researchers try to examine how collections of animals, such as flocks,

herds and schools, move in a way that appears to be orchestrated. A
flock of birds moves like a well choreographed dance troupe. They veer
to the left in unison, then suddenly they may all dart to the right and
swoop down towards the ground. How can they coordinate their actions
so well? In 1987, Reynolds created a “boid” model, which is a
distributed behavioral model, to simulate on a computer the motion of a
flock of birds. Each boid is implemented as an independent actor that
navigates according to its own perception of the dynamic environment.
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WORKING OF SWARM
 Swarm Intelligence: Swarm intelligence describes the way that complex behaviors can arise
from large numbers of individual agents each following very simple rules. For example, ants
use the approach to find the most efficient route to the food source.Individual ants do nothing
more than follow the strongest pheromone trail left by other ants. But, by repeated process of
trial and error by many ants, the best route to the food is quickly revealed.

 Software from insects Local interactions between nearby robots are being used to produce
large scale group behaviors from the entire swarm. Ants , bees and termites are beautifully
engineered examples of this kind of software in use. These insects do not use centralized
communication; there is no strict hierarchy, and no one in charge.

 Particle swarm Optimization: Particle swarm optimization or PSO is a global optimization

algorithm for dealing with problems in which a best solution can be represented as a point or
surface in an n-dimensional space. Hypotheses are plotted in this space and seeded with an
initial velocity, as well as a communication channel between the particles. Particles then move
through the solution space, and are evaluated according to some fitness criterion after each
time step. Over time, particles are accelerated towards those particles within their
communication grouping which have better fitness values.
 TYPES OF SWARM:z

 Modular Robots: A module is essentially a small, relatively simple robot or piece of a robot. Modular robots are made of
lots of these small, identical modules. A modular robot can consist of a few modules or many, depending on the robot’s
design and the task it needs to perform. Some modular robots currently exist only as computer simulations; others are still A Tele-cube G2 module
fully contracted.
in the early stages of development. But they all operate on the same basic principle- lots of little robots can combine to
create one big one.
 Chain robots : Chain robots are long chains that can connect to one another at specific points. Depending on the number
of chains and where they connect, these robots can resemble snakes or spiders. They can also become rolling loops or
bipedal, walking robots. A set of modular chains could navigate an obstacle course by crawling through a tunnel as a
snake, crossing rocky terrain as a spider and riding a tricycle across a bridge as a biped.
 Asteroid eaters: Robots to hunt space rocks, protect Earth.The best way to stop an asteroid from wiping out earth is to
lob a few nuclear missiles at the rocky beast or blow it apart from the inside with megaton bombs. But the more efficient
weapon can be a swarm of nuclear powered robots that could drill into asteroid and hurl chunks of it into space with
NASA's Snake-bot
enough force to gradually push it into non-Earth impacting course.
 The water skater: A bug like robot inspired by insects that skate across water has been engineered. The machine
provides deeper insight into hoe these long legged bugs known as water striders or pond skaters move. The machine is
over 7 centimeters long, and looks and moves very like a real insect. It has six legs: two front, two back and two out to the
side, which row back and forth to propel it forward. Made of a light weight metal, the robot weighs only 0.6 grams. But the
lightness alone is not what keeps it walking on water.Tiny hairs on the ends of its legs that repel water keep the actual
insect afloat. These machines are made bouyant by dipping the legs in a water resistant Teflon solution.

The water skater

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APPLICATION OF ROBOT SWARMS:

Journey into small spaces: The mini-machines could travel in swarms like insects and go into
locations too small for their bulkier cousins, communicating all the while with each other and human
operators in a remote location.

Covert uses possible: The robot could play a major role in intelligence gathering. Over the next
several years these mini robot can be fitted with impressive options, including video cameras and
infrared or radio wireless two-way communications.

Terminators, Transformers and Other Self- Reconfiguring Robots: The coolest thing about
Transformers, of course, is that they can take two completely different shapes. Most can be bipedal
robots or working vehicles. Some can instead transform into weapons or electronic devices. A
Transformer’s two forms have vast different strengths and capabilities.
COMPARISION WITH AVAILABLE
ROBOTS
Swarm bots are completely different from most real robots, which are usually only good at
performing one task or a few related tasks. The Mars Exploration Rovers, for example,
can do the following:
• Generate power with solar calls and store it in batteries.
• Drive across the landscape.
• Take pictures.
• Drill into rocks.
• Use spectrometers to record temperatures, chemical compositions, X-rays and alpha
particles
• Send the recorded data back to Earth using radio waves.
An exploration rover wouldn’t be very good at tasks that don’t fit into categories. It can’t,
for example assemble a bridge, fit into very small spaces or build other robots. In other An artist's rendering of a
words, it would make a lousy search-and-rescue robot, and it wouldn’t fit in at all in an Mars Exploration Rover on
the surface of Mars
automated factory.
That is why engineers are developing reconfiguring robots. Like Transformers, these
robots can change their shape to fit the task at hand. But instead of changing from one
shape to one other shape, like a bipedal robot to a tractor trailer, reconfiguring robots can
take many shapes. They are much smaller than real Transformers; some reconfiguring
robot modules are small enough to fit in a person’s hand.
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OTHER APPLICATIONS
Self-Assembly with Swarm-bot The given figure shows a group
of s-bots trying to locate, approach and connect with an object
(e.g. a teammate). Connections can be either direct or indirect,
that is, via a chain of connected robots.

Group transport by pre-attached robots This figure is about

the transport of heavy object towards a common target by a
group of pre-attached s-bots. Their performance is affected by
the characteristics of the terrain (flat terrains of different friction,
different types of rough terrain).

Adaptive all-terrain navigation This figure shows a group of robots

navigating over an area of unknown terrain over a target light source. If
possible, the robots should navigate to the target independently. If,
however, the terrain proves too difficult for a single robot, the group should
self-assemble into a larger entity and collectively navigate to the target
Self-assembly with a Super-mechano Colony A control algorithm for
autonomous self-assembly can be ported from a source multi-robot platform (i.e.
the swarm-robot system) to a different target multi-robot platform (i.e. a super-
mechano colony system). Although there are substantial differences between the
two robotic platforms, it is possible to qualitatively reproduce the functionality of the
source platform on the target platform. Therefore, the transfer does neither require
modifications in the hardware nor an extensive redesign of the control. The results
of a set of experiments demonstrate that a controller that was developed for the
source platform lets robots of the target platform self-assemble.

Self-assembly and group transport This is an experimental study about the

integration of self assembly and group transport. Here the ability of a group of six
independent s-bots to localize, approach and transport an object (called the prey)
from its initial position to a home zone.

Transport of objects of different shapes and sizes This is about the problem to
transport prey of different shapes and dimensions towards a target location. The
evolved. controllers perform robust with respect to different prey, and allow the
group to transport the prey towards a moving target.
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CONCLUSION:

Robots are going to be an important part of the future. Once robots

are useful, groups of robots are the next step, and will have
tremendous potential to benefit mankind. Software designed to run on
large groups of robots is the key needed to unlock this potential.
THANK YOU