ECE Senior Project 2008-2009
School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Oregon State University
Title: SWARM Robots
Students: ECE, ECE, ECE
Topics: Mechanical Design, Motor Control, Communication Protocols, Control Theory,
Microcontroller Coding, Wireless
Description
The principle of swarm theory is to combine the collective resources of a group to accomplish a goal similar to the
way ants function in a colony. This project focuses on the design of a small, wheeled robot that can sense
environmental hazards (walls), relay this information to nearby robots, and complete simple goals using very simple
programming and processing power. Development of a simple, elegant program will allow a swarm of small robots
to achieve more complex situational awareness than a single robot. Successful completion of this project will
provide an ideal platform for studying various applications and the effectiveness of swarm robotics.
The project will be divided into five sub tasks. These sub tasks are as follows:
1. Control Circuit Design
2. Basic Motor Controls, Power Systems, and Mechanical Design
3. Direction and Proximity Sensor Design
4. Communication System Design
5. Programming Framework and Artificial Intelligence
Absolute Minimum Requirements
• Small (textbook or smaller) wheeled robot mechanical design
• Ability to avoid and/or overcome obstacles in its way
• Translational and rotational motion
• Battery control circuit capable of regulating power to other components
• System to receive instructions from a central control circuit and respond
• Ability to interact (send data) between robots
• Firmware and software that allows simple robot programming
• System will achieve develop goal under some specified time requirement
• Interaction of at least 3 robots and one central control
• Control can be located up to 50’ from robots
Desired Features
• Locate obstacles and other robot(s) at a distance so as to avoid or interact intelligently
• Four or more robots must interact
