The cooperation of swarm-bots: physical interactions in collective robotics

This paper describes the development of concepts of the SWARM-BOTS project and briefly overviews the outcomes of the project including the mechanical and electronic features of the developed robots. The paper also presents a physics-based simulator suitable to investigate time-consuming adaptive algorithms and shows examples of cooperative behaviors, both in simulation and in hardware. This novel research field addresses the design and implementation of robotic systems composed of swarms of robots that interact and cooperate to reach their goals.