Graduate Research Highlight: Swarmbots

August 30, 2007 -

CSAIL graduate student James McLurkin finds inspiration for his distributed robotic systems in nature. The behavior of his swarmbots, a swarm of 100 tiny robots, are based on the way insects communicate, specifically ants and bees.

Swarmbots can only communicate at a distance of three feet and use other robots as landmarks to transmit information. LEDs are used to signify the behavior of the robots. Read more at James McLurkin's web site.