3D Printed Underwater Swarm Bots, CoCoRo
The University of Graz in Austria is coordinating a project which is the work of 5 different Universities, the University of Stuttgart, the University of York, the University of Brussels and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna University of Pisa.
http://cocoro.uni-graz.at/images/blog_stefano.jpeg
Basically the project is for undersea swarm bots which are 3d printed, and work together to complete a task. 3D printing has enabled the researchers to quickly duplicate the bots to be exactly the same. Printing the robots has saved time as well as money.
Quote:
“We have been using 3D printers for several years and we also have some that are owned by the University,” says Stevano Mintchev, one of the engineers involved in the project.
The inspiration for this project came from the workings of social insects such as ants and bees. The bots are equipped with several sensors, the most important ones though are the sensors which allow the robots to know where the other bots are and what function they are performing. It is much easier for 40 swarm bots to complete a complicated task, than one, much more expensive, large robot. The CoCoRo project expects to hold final testing with this technology sometime in September of this year. The project has been possible due to 3 million euros in funding.
Researchers hope that these 3d printed bots will eventually be put into action underwater detecting toxic waste or sunken objects, such as lost flight recorders.
The blog for the University of Graz about these collective cognitive robots is pretty interesting and can be followed here:
http://cocoro.uni-graz.at/drupal/blog
http://cdn.3dprintingindustry.com/wp...ro-sssup-1.jpg
