Swarm Robotics
Inexpensive, highly miniaturized autonomously flying aircraft, spacecraft, and roving robots have the capability to cooperate in swarms that can quickly provide information on large-area infrastructures in harsh environments where other data collection systems are hard to deploy or use. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are already an option when ground accessibility is restricted or as a cost-effective means to provide observation capabilities where needed temporarily. Examples include crowd observation at large events, traffic monitoring, geological exploration, climate observation, and disaster relief. Operating in a swarm adds robustness and omnipresence, with autonomous operation ensuring that the swarm goes where the data is needed.
Much research is focused on large sensor networks, which offer clear benefits. However, flexibility and deployment costs remain issues. Swarms act as “self-deploying” flexible and robust sensor networks. Local observations by UAVs can be easily combined with global observations by nano-satellite swarms, providing high-resolution details where necessary within a global dataset. This creates a multi-tiered system capable of flexible responses and varying levels of detail.
TU Delft has established itself as a leading creator of swarm elements by launching the nano-satellite Delfi-C3 in April 2008, which remains fully functional, and by demonstrating the practical implementation of the highly-miniaturized UAV, the "Delfly Micro," equipped with a camera and acoustic sensors. Both systems fully exploit the excellent software and hardware capabilities unique to TU Delft. Alongside research into building these individual sensor-carrying automata, we have developed a clear understanding of the optimal use and potential of these highly miniaturized systems.
Within the TU Delft Robotics Institute, our primary goal is to create highly miniaturized spacecraft and aircraft, enhance their level of autonomy, and demonstrate the proper operation of these swarm elements both in the air and in space. We aim to make them cooperate in a swarm and demonstrate the feasibility of data-collecting swarms.
Scientific Challenges:
- Collective system behavior
- Distributed sensor systems & networks
- Miniaturization
- System safety & robustness
Applications:
- Traffic and pollution observation
- Ship & logistic tracking
- Space exploration
- Self-deploying sensor networks
Labs:
Faculties:
- AE
- EEMCS
- TPM
- ME