'Honeybee' Colias robots replicate swarm behaviour

Colias with grasshopper (for scale).

Credit: Image courtesy of University of Lincoln

Computer scientists have created a low-cost, autonomous micro-robot which in large numbers can replicate the behaviour of swarming honeybees Colias, named after a genus of butterfly, is an open-platform system that can be used to investigate collective behaviours and be applied to swarm applications.

Robotic swarms that take inspiration from nature have become a topic of fascination for robotics researchers, whose aim is to study the autonomous behaviour of large numbers of simple robots in order to find technological solutions to common complex tasks.

Due to the hardware complexities and cost of creating robot hardware platforms, current research in swarm robotics is mostly performed by simulation software.

However, the simulation of large numbers of these robots in robotic swarm software applications is often inaccurate due to the poor modelling of external conditions.



Colias was created by a team of scientists led by the University of Lincoln, UK, with Tsinghua University in China.

It has been proven to be feasible as an autonomous platform, effectively replicating a honeybee swarm.

Its small size (4cm diameter) and fast motion (35cm/s) means it can be used in fast-paced swarm scenarios over large areas.

In comparison to other mobile robots which are utilized in swarm robotic research, Colias is a low-cost platform, costing around £25, making the replication of swarm behaviour in large numbers of robots more feasible and economical for researchers.

Farshad Arvin, from the School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, was part of the research team which developed Colias.

He said: "The platform must be able to imitate swarm behaviours found in nature, such as insects, birds and fish. Colias has been designed as a complete platform with supporting software development tools for robotics education and research."

Farshad Arvin

"This concept allows for the coordination of simple physical robots in order to cooperatively perform tasks."

"The decentralised control of robotic swarms can be achieved by providing well-defined interaction rules for each individual robot."

"Colias has been used in a bio-inspired scenario, showing that it is extremely responsive to being used to investigate collective behaviours."

"Our aim was to imitate the bio-inspired mechanisms of swarm robots and to enable all research groups, even with limited funding, to perform such research with real robots."

Long-range infrared proximity sensors allow the robot to communicate with its direct neighbours at a range of 0.5cm to 2m.

A combination of three short-range sensors and an independent processor enables the individual robots to detect obstacles.

A similar but more complex mechanism has been found in locust vision, where a specific neuron called the 'lobula giant movement detector' reacts to objects approaching the insects' eyes.

Co-author Professor Shigang Yue, also from Lincoln's School of Computer Science, previously created a computerised system which supports the autonomous navigation of mobile robots based on the locust's unique visual system.

This earlier research, published in the International Journal of Advanced Mechatronic Systems (2013), could provide the blueprint for the development of highly accurate vehicle collision sensors, surveillance technology and even aid video game programming.

The next step for the Colias research team is to work on an extension of the vision module using a faster computer processor to implement bio-inspired vision mechanisms.

Full details of their research have been published in the International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems.

Journal Reference:
Farshad Arvin, John Murray, Chun Zhang, Shigang Yue. Colias: An Autonomous Micro Robot for Swarm Robotic Applications. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2014; 1 DOI: 10.5772/58730

BRITE-Constellation: Two low-cost Canadian nanosatellites launched

Nanosatellites will form a unique "constellation" aimed at understanding the ecology of the Universe. 

Together, the satellites are known as the BRITE-Constellation, standing for BRIght Target Explorer.

Credit: UTIAS - Space Flight Laboratory.

Two nanosatellites were launched from Yasny, Russia, at 15:11:11 Eastern Daylight Time today by Anthony Moffat, of the University of Montreal and the Centre for Research in Astrophysics of Quebec (CRAQ), and UTIAS, the Canadian research and technology team he leads.

Costing a fraction of conventional space telescopes and similar in size and weight to a car battery, the satellites are two of six that will work together to shed light on the structures and life stories of some of the brightest stars in the sky, uncovering unique clues as to the origins of our own Sun and Earth.

Together, the satellites are known as the BRITE-Constellation, standing for BRIght Target Explorer.

"BRITE-Constellation will monitor for long stretches of time the brightness and colour variations of most of the brightest stars visible to the eye in the night sky. These stars include some of the most massive and luminous stars in the Galaxy, many of which are precursors to supernova explosions."

"This project will contribute to unprecedented advances in our understanding of such stars and the life cycles of the current and future generations of stars," said Professor Moffat, who is the scientific mission lead for the Canadian contribution to BRITE and current chair of the international executive science team.

Luminous stars dominate the ecology of the Universe. "During their relatively brief lives, massive luminous stars gradually eject enriched gas into the interstellar medium, adding heavy elements critical to the formation of future stars, terrestrial planets and organics."

"In their spectacular deaths as supernova explosions, massive stars violently inject even more crucial ingredients into the mix."

"The first generation of massive stars in the history of the Universe may have laid the imprint for all future stellar history," Moffat explained.

"Yet, massive stars, rapidly spinning and with radiation fields whose pressure resists gravity itself - are arguably the least understood, despite being the brightest members of the familiar constellations of the night sky."

Other less-massive stars, including stars similar to our own Sun, also contribute to the ecology of the Universe, but only at the end of their lives, when they brighten by factors of a thousand and shed off their tenuous outer layers.

Nanosatellites will form a unique "constellation" aimed at understanding the ecology of the Universe. 

Together, the satellites are known as the BRITE-Constellation, standing for BRIght Target Explorer. 

Credit: UTIAS - Space Flight Laboratory

BRITE-Constellation is in fact a multinational effort that relies on pioneering Canadian space technology and a partnership with Austrian and Polish space researchers – the three countries act as equal partners.

Canada's participation was made possible thanks to an investment of $4.07 million by the Canadian Space Agency.

The two new Canadian satellites are joining two Austrian satellites and a Polish satellite already in orbit; the final Polish satellite will be launched in August.

All six satellites were designed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies - Space Flight Laboratory, who also built the Canadian pair.

The satellites are were in fact named "BRITE Toronto" and "BRITE Montreal" after the University of Toronto and the University of Montreal, who play a major role in the mission.

"BRITE-Constellation will exploit and enhance recent Canadian advances in precise attitude control that have opened up for space science the domain of very low cost, miniature spacecraft, allowing a scientific return that otherwise would have had price tags 10 to 100 times higher," Moffat said.

"This will actually be the first network of satellites devoted to a fundamental problem in astrophysics."

The nanosatellites will be able to explore a wide range of astrophysical questions. "The constellation could detect exoplanetary transits around other stars, putting our own planetary system in context, or the pulsations of red giants, which will enable us to test and refine our models regarding the eventual fate of our Sun," Moffatt explained.