Challenges on the way to fully autonomous swarms of drones

While a single, small robot is limited in its capabilities to perform complex tasks, large groups or "swarms" of such robots have a much bigger potential. Physically, they can collaborate to move heavier things, cross gaps bigger than a single robot body length, or explore unknown areas much quicker. Mentally, they can take in and process much more information than a single robot could, even if communication is extremely limited. In the NIPS 2016 workshop on multi-agent systems, it is suggested that true Artificial Intelligence can only be reached by having robots interact with each other, and it is well-known that groups of robots potentially have a much larger collective learning potential than animals or humans.

So, why are we not yet seeing many such robotic swarms in the real world or even in academia? In my talk I will go into the challenges of making an autonomous swarm of tiny drones explore an unknown building. These drones are < 50 grams and have to fly around, avoid obstacles, navigate, and work together for the most efficient exploration. I will highlight how complex these various challenges are and report on a specific study in which we have drones use their bluetooth modules to avoid each other, should they find themselves in the same small indoor space. This case study will illustrate what are in my eyes the major challenges towards the promised autonomous robotic swarms.