Robohub.org
 

The Year of CoCoRo Video #33/52: Combined scenario number one – relay chain


by
18 August 2015



share this:

cocoro_33The EU-funded Collective Cognitive Robotics (CoCoRo) project has built a swarm of 41 autonomous underwater vehicles (AVs) that show collective cognition. Throughout 2015 – The Year of CoCoRo – we’ll be uploading a new weekly video detailing the latest stage in its development. This week, we show several instances of a relay chain, in the middle phase of our “combined scenario #1” 

In the CoCoRo system there is often a large gap between the swarm of Jeff robots on the ground, that have found a search target, and the base station at the water surface. Underwater communication is often difficult and limited so, to bridge this gap, a swarm of Lily robots build a chain, which we call a “relay chain.” It allows the ground swarm and the surface station to communicate with each other through light pulses, RF or electric pulses. In this scenario we test information transfer in both directions by triggering either the ground swarm or the base station with a flashlight pulse.

The relay chain is formed by Lily robots executing a special “shoaling algorithm.” Inspired by fish shoaling behavior,  It is based on their reactions to their nearest neighbors sensed passively by photodiodes on the outer hull of the Lily robots. Reception of periodic blue-light blinks allows the robots to detect each other and to align and orient themselves relative to their neighbors’ configuration. Thus, the relay chain formation itself is almost communication-free, as the photodiodes and blinks can be easily replaced by a video camera and object detection. The only actual communication is the relaying of RF pulse information, based on the strategy used by slime-mould amoebas.



tags: , , , , , , ,


Thomas Schmickl is an Associate Professor at Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria, and a lecturer at the University for Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Austria.
Thomas Schmickl is an Associate Professor at Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria, and a lecturer at the University for Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Austria.





Related posts :



Social media round-up from #IROS2025

  27 Oct 2025
Take a look at what participants got up to at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

Using generative AI to diversify virtual training grounds for robots

  24 Oct 2025
New tool from MIT CSAIL creates realistic virtual kitchens and living rooms where simulated robots can interact with models of real-world objects, scaling up training data for robot foundation models.

Robot Talk Episode 130 – Robots learning from humans, with Chad Jenkins

  24 Oct 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Chad Jenkins from University of Michigan about how robots can learn from people and assist us in our daily lives.

Robot Talk at the Smart City Robotics Competition

  22 Oct 2025
In a special bonus episode of the podcast, Claire chatted to competitors, exhibitors, and attendees at the Smart City Robotics Competition in Milton Keynes.

Robot Talk Episode 129 – Automating museum experiments, with Yuen Ting Chan

  17 Oct 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Yuen Ting Chan from Natural History Museum about using robots to automate molecular biology experiments.

What’s coming up at #IROS2025?

  15 Oct 2025
Find out what the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems has in store.

From sea to space, this robot is on a roll

  13 Oct 2025
Graduate students in the aptly named "RAD Lab" are working to improve RoboBall, the robot in an airbag.

Robot Talk Episode 128 – Making microrobots move, with Ali K. Hoshiar

  10 Oct 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Ali K. Hoshiar from University of Essex about how microrobots move and work together.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence