Skip to main content
Top

2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

The Psi Swarm: A Low-Cost Robotics Platform and Its Use in an Education Setting

Authors : James Hilder, Alexander Horsfield, Alan G. Millard, Jon Timmis

Published in: Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

The paper introduces the Psi Swarm robot, a platform developed to allow both affordable research in swarm robotics and versatility for teaching programming and robotics concepts. Motivated by the goals of reducing cost and construction complexity of existing swarm platforms, we have developed a trackable, sensor-rich and expandable platform which needs only a computer with internet browser to program. This paper outlines the design of the platform and the development of a tablet-computer based programming environment for the robot, intended to teach primary school aged children programming concepts.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe




 

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Footnotes
1
Projects created in the online tools can also be exported to a number of different tool-chains, such as Keil \(\mu \)Vision and GCC if desired.
 
2
This allows swarms of up to 15 to be simply set in hardware; larger swarms can be created by using the on-board EEPROM to store additional bits of index information.
 
3
Full load considered to be all LEDs on, IR sensors active at 10 Hz, Bluetooth active and motors at 100\(\%\) on a smooth surface.
 
Literature
1.
go back to reference National curriculum in England: computing programmes of study, September 2013 National curriculum in England: computing programmes of study, September 2013
2.
go back to reference Hilder, J., Naylor, R., Rizihs, A., Franks, D., Timmis, J.: The pi swarm: a low-cost platform for swarm robotics research and education. In: Mistry, M., Leonardis, A., Witkowski, M., Melhuish, C. (eds.) TAROS 2014. LNCS, vol. 8717, pp. 151–162. Springer, Heidelberg (2014) Hilder, J., Naylor, R., Rizihs, A., Franks, D., Timmis, J.: The pi swarm: a low-cost platform for swarm robotics research and education. In: Mistry, M., Leonardis, A., Witkowski, M., Melhuish, C. (eds.) TAROS 2014. LNCS, vol. 8717, pp. 151–162. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)
3.
go back to reference Millard, A.G., Hilder, J., et al.: A low-cost real-time tracking infrastructure for ground-based robot swarms. In: ANTS: 9th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence (2014) Millard, A.G., Hilder, J., et al.: A low-cost real-time tracking infrastructure for ground-based robot swarms. In: ANTS: 9th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence (2014)
4.
go back to reference Olson, E.: AprilTag: a robust and flexible visual fiducial system. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 3400–3407. May 2011 Olson, E.: AprilTag: a robust and flexible visual fiducial system. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 3400–3407. May 2011
5.
go back to reference Pinciroli, C., Trianni, V., et al.: ARGoS: a modular, parallel, multi-engine simulator for multi-robot systems. Swarm Intell. 6(4), 271–295 (2012)CrossRef Pinciroli, C., Trianni, V., et al.: ARGoS: a modular, parallel, multi-engine simulator for multi-robot systems. Swarm Intell. 6(4), 271–295 (2012)CrossRef
6.
go back to reference Resnick, M., Maloney, J., et al.: Scratch: programming for all. Commun. ACM 52(11), 60–67 (2009)CrossRef Resnick, M., Maloney, J., et al.: Scratch: programming for all. Commun. ACM 52(11), 60–67 (2009)CrossRef
Metadata
Title
The Psi Swarm: A Low-Cost Robotics Platform and Its Use in an Education Setting
Authors
James Hilder
Alexander Horsfield
Alan G. Millard
Jon Timmis
Copyright Year
2016
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40379-3_16

Premium Partner