An optical interface for inter-robot communication in a swarm of microrobots

Abstract

It is described the optical communication interface for short-range communications of robots in a microrobotic swarm between thousands of units. The robots, of 27 mm3-size, will be deployed in an arena of A4 sheet size with controlled illumination conditions. The communication between robots is done via IR light. The interface can handle variations of IR background light from point to point in the arena, deals with robot different orientation and distance, i.e., the amplitude of the signal to be detected, and with interferences of other robots. The interface has been designed to manage the low energy available in the robot.