Editing Swarm robotics (section)

== Applications ==
There are many potential applications for swarm robotics.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Cheraghi |first1=Ahmad Reza |title=Past, Present, and Future of Swarm Robotics |date=2021-01-03 |arxiv=2101.00671 |last2=Shahzad |first2=Sahdia |last3=Graffi |first3=Kalman}}</ref>  They include tasks that demand [[miniaturization]] ([[nanorobotics]], [[microbotics]]), like distributed sensing tasks in [[micromachinery]] or the human body. A promising use of swarm robotics is in [[rescue robot|search and rescue]] missions.<ref name="tvt">Hu, J.; Niu, H.; Carrasco, J.; Lennox, B.; Arvin, F., "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9244647 Voronoi-Based Multi-Robot Autonomous Exploration in Unknown Environments via Deep Reinforcement Learning]" IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2020.</ref>  Swarms of robots of different sizes could be sent to places that rescue-workers cannot reach safely, to explore the unknown environment and solve complex mazes via onboard sensors.<ref name="tvt" /> Swarm robotics can also be suited to tasks that demand cheap designs, for instance [[mining]] or agricultural shepherding tasks.<ref name="tcds">Hu, J.; Turgut, A.; Krajnik, T.; Lennox, B.; Arvin, F., "[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9173524 Occlusion-Based Coordination Protocol Design for Autonomous Robotic Shepherding Tasks]" IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, 2020.</ref>

=== Drone swarms ===
[[File:3 1절 100주년 기념 100대 드론 군집비행 (4) (1155).png|alt=A 100 drone swarm flight commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute|thumb|300x300px|A 100 drone swarm flight commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute]]
Drone swarms are used in target search, [[drone display]]s, and delivery. A drone display commonly uses multiple, lighted drones at night for an artistic display or advertising. A delivery drone swarm can carry multiple packages to a single destination at a time and overcome a single drone's payload and battery limitations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alkouz |first1=Balsam |title=2020 IEEE International Conference on Web Services (ICWS) |last2=Bouguettaya |first2=Athman |last3=Mistry |first3=Sajib |date=Oct 18–24, 2020 |isbn=978-1-7281-8786-0 |pages=441–448 |chapter=Swarm-based Drone-as-a-Service (SDaaS) for Delivery |doi=10.1109/ICWS49710.2020.00065 |arxiv=2005.06952 |s2cid=218628807}}</ref> A drone swarm may undertake different [[Formation flying|flight formations]] to reduce overall energy consumption due to drag forces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alkouz |first1=Balsam |title=MobiQuitous 2020 - 17th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services |last2=Bouguettaya |first2=Athman |date=Dec 7–9, 2020 |isbn=9781450388405 |pages=386–394 |chapter=Formation-based Selection of Drone Swarm Services |doi=10.1145/3448891.3448899 |arxiv=2011.06766 |s2cid=226955877}}</ref>

Drone swarming can also introduce additional control issues connected to human factors and the swarm operator. Examples of this include high cognitive demand and complexity when interacting with multiple drones due to changing attention between different individual drones.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hocraffer |first1=Amy |last2=Nam |first2=Chang S. |date=2017 |title=A meta-analysis of human-system interfaces in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm management |journal=Applied Ergonomics |volume=58 |pages=66–80 |doi=10.1016/j.apergo.2016.05.011 |pmid=27633199}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Michael |date=2013 |title=Human Interaction With Multiple Remote Robots |journal=Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=131–174 |doi=10.1177/1557234X13506688}}</ref> Communication between operator and swarm is also a central aspect.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kolling |first1=Andreas |last2=Phillip |first2=Walker |last3=Nilanjan |first3=Chakraborty |last4=Katia |first4=Sycara |last5=Michael |first5=Lewis |date=2016 |title=Human interaction with robot swarms: A survey |url=http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/28437/1/hms.pdf |journal=IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=9–26 |doi=10.1109/THMS.2015.2480801 |s2cid=9975315}}</ref>

=== Military swarms ===
More controversially, swarms of [[military robot]]s can form an autonomous army.   U.S. Naval forces have tested a swarm of autonomous boats that can steer and take offensive actions by themselves. The boats are unmanned and can be fitted with any kind of kit to deter and destroy enemy vessels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/tech/innovation/navy-swarm-boats/index.html|title=U.S. Navy could 'swarm' foes with robot boats|first=Brad |last=Lendon|date=6 October 2014 |publisher=CNN}}</ref>

During the [[Syrian Civil War]], Russian forces in the region reported attacks on their main air force base in the country by swarms of fixed-wing drones loaded with explosives.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/drone-swarms-are-going-to-be-terrifying/555005/|title=Drone Swarms Are Going to Be Terrifying and Hard to Stop|last=Madrigal|first=Alexis C.|date=2018-03-07|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07}}</ref>

=== Miniature swarms ===
Another large set of applications may be solved using swarms of [[micro air vehicle]]s, which are also broadly investigated nowadays.  In comparison with the pioneering studies of swarms of flying robots using precise [[motion capture]] systems in laboratory conditions,<ref>Kushleyev, A.; Mellinger, D.; Powers, C.; Kumar, V., "[https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b063/239bd450038531eeb2db5466eaed34a0f9a0.pdf Towards a swarm of agile micro quadrotors]" Autonomous Robots, Volume 35, Issue 4, pp 287-300, November 2013</ref> current systems such as [[Shooting Star (drone)|Shooting Star]] can control teams of hundreds of micro aerial vehicles in outdoor environment<ref>Vasarhelyi, G.; Virágh, C.; Tarcai, N.; Somorjai, G.; Vicsek, T. [https://arxiv.org/abs/1402.3588 Outdoor flocking and formation flight with autonomous aerial robots]. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2014), 2014</ref> using [[Satellite navigation|GNSS]] systems (such as GPS) or even  stabilize them using onboard [[robot localization|localization]] systems<ref>Faigl, J.; Krajnik, T.; Chudoba, J.; Preucil, L.; Saska, M. [http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/13799/1/__ddat02_staffhome_jpartridge_camera_2013_ICRA.pdf Low-Cost Embedded System for Relative Localization in Robotic Swarms]. In ICRA2013: Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. 2013.</ref> where GPS is unavailable.<ref>Saska, M.; Vakula, J.; Preucil, L. [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6907374/ Swarms of Micro Aerial Vehicles Stabilized Under a Visual Relative Localization]. In ICRA2014: Proceedings of 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. 2014.</ref><ref>Saska, M. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Saska/publication/282922149_MAV-swarms_Unmanned_aerial_vehicles_stabilized_along_a_given_path_using_onboard_relative_localization/links/5684f75b08ae19758394dcdf.pdf MAV-swarms: unmanned aerial vehicles stabilized along a given path using onboard relative localization]. In Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). 2015</ref>  Swarms of micro aerial vehicles have been already tested in tasks of autonomous surveillance,<ref>Saska, M.; Chudoba, J.; Preucil, L.; Thomas, J.; Loianno, G.; Tresnak, A.; Vonasek, V.; Kumar, V. [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6842301/ Autonomous Deployment of Swarms of Micro-Aerial Vehicles in Cooperative Surveillance]. In Proceedings of 2014 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). 2014.</ref> plume tracking,<ref>Saska, M.; Langr J.; L. Preucil. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Saska/publication/290558108_Plume_Tracking_by_a_Self-stabilized_Group_of_Micro_Aerial_Vehicles/links/57040e7908ae74a08e245eeb.pdf Plume Tracking by a Self-stabilized Group of Micro Aerial Vehicles]. In Modelling and Simulation for Autonomous Systems, 2014.</ref> and reconnaissance in a compact phalanx.<ref>Saska, M.; Kasl, Z.; Preucil, L. [http://www.nt.ntnu.no/users/skoge/prost/proceedings/ifac2014/media/files/2295.pdf Motion Planning and Control of Formations of Micro Aerial Vehicles]. In Proceedings of the 19th World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control. 2014.</ref>  Numerous works on cooperative swarms of unmanned ground and aerial vehicles have been conducted with target applications of cooperative environment monitoring,<ref>Saska, M.; Vonasek, V.; Krajnik, T.; Preucil, L. [http://labe.felk.cvut.cz/~tkrajnik/ardrone/articles/formace.pdf Coordination and Navigation of Heterogeneous UAVs-UGVs Teams Localized by a Hawk-Eye Approach] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810054531/http://labe.felk.cvut.cz/~tkrajnik/ardrone/articles/formace.pdf |date=2017-08-10 }}. In Proceedings of 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. 2012.</ref> [[simultaneous localization and mapping]],<ref>Chung, Soon-Jo, et al. "[https://authors.library.caltech.edu/87925/1/tro-aerial-robotics_final.pdf A survey on aerial swarm robotics]." IEEE Transactions on Robotics 34.4 (2018): 837-855.</ref> convoy protection,<ref>Saska, M.; Vonasek, V.; Krajnik, T.; Preucil, L. [http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/14891/1/formations_2014_IJRR.pdf Coordination and Navigation of Heterogeneous MAV–UGV Formations Localized by a ‘hawk-eye’-like Approach Under a Model Predictive Control Scheme]. International Journal of Robotics Research 33(10):1393–1412, September 2014.</ref> and moving target localization and tracking.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10846-011-9581-5 | doi=10.1007/s10846-011-9581-5 | title=A Robust Mobile Target Localization Method for Cooperative Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Sensor Fusion Quality | date=2012 | last1=Kwon | first1=Hyukseong | last2=Pack | first2=Daniel J. | journal=Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems | volume=65 | issue=1–4 | pages=479–493 | s2cid=254656907 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==== Acoustic swarms ====
In 2023, University of Washington and Microsoft researchers demonstrated acoustic swarms of tiny robots that create shape-changing smart speakers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Itani |first1=Malek |last2=Chen |first2=Tuochao |last3=Yoshioka |first3=Takuya |last4=Gollakota |first4=Shyamnath |date=2023-09-21 |title=Creating speech zones with self-distributing acoustic swarms |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=5684 |bibcode=2023NatCo..14.5684I |doi=10.1038/s41467-023-40869-8 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=10514314 |pmid=37735445 |doi-access=free}}</ref> These can be used for manipulating acoustic scenes to focus on or mute sounds from a specific region in a room.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UW team's shape-changing smart speaker lets users mute different areas of a room |url=https://www.washington.edu/news/2023/09/21/shape-changing-smart-speaker-ai-noise-canceling-alexa-robot/ |access-date=2023-09-21 |website=UW News |language=en}}</ref>  Here, tiny robots cooperate with each other using sound signals, without any cameras, to navigate cooperatively with centimeter-level accuracy. These swarm devices  spread out across a surface to create a distributed and reconfigurable wireless microphone array. They also navigate back to the charging station where they can be automatically recharged.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Creating Speech Zones Using Self-distributing Acoustic Swarms |url=https://acousticswarm.cs.washington.edu/ |access-date=2023-09-21 |website=acousticswarm.cs.washington.edu}}</ref>

==== Kilobot ====
Most efforts have focused on relatively small groups of machines. However, a [[Kilobot]] swarm consisting of 1,024 individual robots was demonstrated by Harvard in 2014, the largest to date.<ref>{{cite web |date=14 August 2014 |title=A self-organizing thousand-robot swarm |url=http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/08/self-organizing-thousand-robot-swarm |access-date=16 August 2014 |work=Harvard}}</ref> 

==== LIBOT ====
Another example of miniaturization is the LIBOT Robotic System<ref>{{citation |last1=Zahugi |first1=Emaad Mohamed H. |title=2012 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems (CYBER) |pages=342–347 |year=2012 |chapter=Libot: Design of a low cost mobile robot for outdoor swarm robotics |doi=10.1109/CYBER.2012.6392577 |isbn=978-1-4673-1421-3 |s2cid=14692473 |last2=Shabani |first2=Ahmed M. |last3=Prasad |first3=T. V.}}</ref> that involves a low cost robot built for outdoor swarm robotics. The robots are also made with provisions for indoor use via Wi-Fi, since the GPS sensors provide poor communication inside buildings.  
[[File:Swarm of Colias Robot.jpg|alt=A swarm of open source micro Colias robots|thumb|A swarm of open source micro Colias robots]]

==== Colias ====
Another such attempt is the micro robot (Colias),<ref>Arvin, F.; Murray, J.C.; Licheng Shi; Chun Zhang; Shigang Yue, "[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Farshad_Arvin/publication/271545281_Development_of_an_autonomous_micro_robot_for_swarm_robotics/links/55e4bad008aede0b57357ed4.pdf Development of an autonomous micro robot for swarm robotics]," 2014 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA), vol., no., pp.635,640, 3-6 Aug. 2014 doi: 10.1109/ICMA.2014.6885771</ref> built in the Computer Intelligence Lab at the [[University of Lincoln]], UK. This micro robot is built on a 4 cm circular chassis and is a low-cost and open platform for use in a variety of swarm robotics applications.

=== Manufacturing swarms ===
Additionally, progress has been made in the application of autonomous swarms in the field of manufacturing, known as [[swarm 3D printing]]. This is particularly useful for the production of large structures and components, where traditional [[3D printing]] is not able to be utilized due to hardware size constraints. Miniaturization and mass mobilization allows the manufacturing system to achieve [[scale invariance]], not limited in effective build volume. While in its early stage of development, swarm 3D printing is currently being commercialized by startup companies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rosotics.com/technology/|title=Technology|date=25 July 2020|access-date=16 August 2020|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804020620/https://www.rosotics.com/technology|url-status=dead}}</ref>