MAKER: A Kilobot Swarm

Abstract

A Kilobot is a small, inexpensive robot designed by the Self-Organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard University. These robots have features that enable researchers to test collective algorithms on hundreds of robots (called a swarm) without the logistical problems that are faced when dealing with a large number of units 1 . This paper presents a tested procedure on how to construct a Kilobot Swarm. The procedure was created from a combination of the original Kilobot documents made available by Harvard University 2 , other materials later released by Harvard 3 , as well as some additional insight and modifications that result in a single document with all of the relevant information to get a Kilobot Swarm operational.