The Year of CoCoRo Video #47/52: Underwater robots swarm at CEBIT consumer electronics show

In March 2014, we exhibited CoCoRo in Hannover, Germany at the CEBIT — Europe’s largest consumer electronics fair. At first we thought we might be out of place and that our exhibit would be overshadowed by the latest flatscreen TVs, smartphones and gaming consoles. We were very wrong: though we had the smallest booth, we were overrun with thousands of people throughout the week, and television and radio crews also stopped by for interviews. By our own estimates, we may just have had the highest rate of visitors per square meter in the whole fair.

It’s not easy to bring a swarm of underwater robots and run live experiments at a consumer electronic show, but we gained a lot of motivation from the public interest we felt there. Thanks to our enduring team members and also to all the people who visited us!

The 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.

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.