How can I build a distributed system for swarm robot experiments?
GenGrid: A Generalised Distributed Experimental Environmental Grid for Swarm Robotics
April 30, 2025
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.20071This paper introduces GenGrid, a low-cost, open-source, and modular hardware platform for swarm robotics research. It uses light-based communication and magnetic sensing to facilitate robot-environment and robot-robot interactions, mimicking pheromone-based communication in ants. Experiments demonstrate capabilities like gradient following, 2D path navigation, obstacle avoidance, collective transport, and shepherding.
Key points for LLM-based multi-agent systems:
- Stigmergy: GenGrid's light-based communication emulates stigmergic communication, where agents interact indirectly through the environment. This paradigm could be adopted by LLM agents, enabling implicit coordination by manipulating shared digital environments.
- Modularity and Scalability: The modular design of GenGrid allows for easy expansion and customization, a desirable feature for multi-agent system development where agents and environments can be dynamically added or removed.
- Physical Embodiment: While focused on physical robots, GenGrid's principles can be adapted to simulated environments, offering a tangible model for implementing and testing LLM-based multi-agent interactions in virtual spaces.
- Simplified Communication: The use of simple light signals for complex behaviors highlights the potential of designing efficient communication protocols for LLM agents, minimizing the bandwidth required for coordinating large numbers of agents.
- Collective Behavior: The demonstration of swarm behaviors like collective transport and shepherding provides practical examples that can inform the design of LLM-based multi-agent systems aimed at achieving complex goals through emergent collaboration.