Tiny robots learn an arena's shape just by swapping short messages
Researchers from Sorbonne University and the University of Tokyo had a robot swarm tell a disk-shaped arena from a ring-shaped one, with no map, camera or central computer.
Very small robots swap simple numbers with their neighbours. From those numbers they learn the shape of the room they are in, with no map and no camera.
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Why it matters
The idea is simple and may help cheap swarms work where GPS is missing, but it is still a lab test.
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The details
- The study is in Science Robotics, with researchers from Sorbonne University and the University of Tokyo.
- Each robot holds a number like a "temperature" and swaps it with neighbours only, so it spreads the way heat does.
- From how its number changes, each robot estimates a "signature" and compares it with known shapes.
- With real robots, Kilobots named the right arena in 22 of 30 trials, and a group of 25 Pogobots did so in all 30.
- The team tested shape recognition only, not navigation, and the robots stood still while estimating.
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