•"FireAnt", a new modular robot design that demonstrates full-body continuous docks, an attachment mechanism able to attach anywhere
onto other robots at any orientation, eliminating the need for alignment mechanisms and complex sensors. This is accomplished using
novel dock designed with conductive plastic. For more details, see our ICRA 2018 paper.
• Externally driven actuation for swarm robots: We designed a prototype robotic system that allows for externally powered motion in 2D without sacrificing individual autonomy, which simplifies
the robot hardware, possibly enabling larger swarm sizes. This is accomplished using a table surface that is moving in an
orbital fashion, and where robots can move to any point on the table surface simply through a series of carefully timed
attachment and detachment steps. See our IROS 2016 paper for more details.
•Low Cost sensing for rotorcraft: Here we present a system that
can allow for more natural swarming behaviors by enabling
direct bearing and elevation sensing, as well as communication
between nearby rotor-craft. This system takes advantage of the
existing motion of the vehicles propellers, is low power, and can
be adapted to existing vehicles with only simple modifications. See our IROS 2017 paper for more details.