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Kilogrid: a novel experimental environment for the Kilobot robot

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Abstract

We present the Kilogrid, an open-source virtualization environment and data logging manager for the Kilobot robot, Kilobot for short. The Kilogrid has been designed to extend the sensory-motor abilities of the Kilobot, to simplify the task of collecting data during experiments, and to provide researchers with a tool to fine-control the experimental setup and its parameters. Based on the design of the Kilobot and compatible with existing hardware, the Kilogrid is a modular system composed of a grid of computing nodes, or modules that provides a bidirectional communication channel between the Kilobots and a remote workstation. In this paper, we describe the hardware and software architecture of the Kilogrid system as well as its functioning to accompany its release as a new open hardware tool for the swarm robotics community. We demonstrate the capabilities of the Kilogrid using a 200-module Kilogrid, swarms of up to 100 Kilobots, and four different case studies: exploration and obstacle avoidance, site selection based on multiple gradients, plant watering, and pheromone-based foraging. Through this set of case studies, we show how the Kilogrid allows the experimenter to virtualize sensors and actuators not available to the Kilobot and to automatize the collection of data essential for the analysis of the experiments.

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Notes

  1. See http://www.kilobotics.com/.

  2. See http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/supp/IridiaSupp2017-001/.

  3. http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/kilogrid/.

  4. Costs do not include taxes.

  5. The price of a Kilobot is computed from the price listed by K-Team Corporation and does not include taxes nor the cost of the OHC and of the Kilobot charger.

  6. If communication between Kilobots is not required, that from a Kilobot to a cell can be augmented up to 72 bits every 0.5 s.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Research Council through the ERC Advanced Grant “E-SWARM: Engineering Swarm Intelligence Systems” (contract 246939) to Marco Dorigo. Marco Dorigo acknowledges support from the Belgian F.R.S.-FNRS, for which he is a Research Director.

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Author notes

  1. Gabriele Valentini

    Present address: Beyond Center, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRIDIA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Gabriele Valentini, Anthony Antoun, Marco Trabattoni & Marco Dorigo

  2. Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

    Bernát Wiandt

  3. School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Yasumasa Tamura

  4. IRT Jules Verne, Nantes, France

    Etienne Hocquard

  5. ISTC, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy

    Vito Trianni

Authors
  1. Gabriele Valentini
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  2. Anthony Antoun
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  3. Marco Trabattoni
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  4. Bernát Wiandt
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  5. Yasumasa Tamura
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  6. Etienne Hocquard
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  7. Vito Trianni
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  8. Marco Dorigo
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Correspondence to Gabriele Valentini.

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Valentini, G., Antoun, A., Trabattoni, M. et al. Kilogrid: a novel experimental environment for the Kilobot robot. Swarm Intell 12, 245–266 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11721-018-0155-z

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