Kilobot

A large group of kilobots pressed together.
Invasion of the Kilobots. Photo: Evan Ackerman

Kilobot is a small mobile robot that can operate in groups of dozens to more than 1,000 units. The robots mimic how ants and other insects coordinate their swarm behaviors—but they won't bite you.

Creator

Harvard University

Year
2011
Country
United States 🇺🇸
Categories
Features
A spinning view of a single 5.5 cm tall kilobot which has 3 toothpick like yellow legs, electronics on a round circuit board and a curved metal piece sticking out of the top.
Interactive
See a 360° view of a Kilobot. Photos: Randi Klett

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Did you know?

In early 2012, Harvard researchers completed the assembly of a group of 1,000 Kilobots.

Close-up shows about 75 small kilobot robots gathered together.
These bots help one another out. Photo: Evan Ackerman
A swarm of Kilobots up close. Video: SSR Lab/Harvard University

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History

Kilobots were created by researchers at Harvard's Self-Organizing Systems Research Group, led by engineering professor Radhika Nagpal. Her team included Michael Rubenstein, a postdoctoral fellow, and Christian Ahler, a fellow of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute. In designing the robots, the researchers looked for inspiration from social insects such as ants and bees. The goal is to use swarms of Kilobots as a test bed for studying collective behavior in natural and artificial systems.

Specs

Overview

Modular, low-cost design. Able to measure distances to other robots and ambient light. Mobile on flat surfaces using two vibration motors.

Status

Ongoing

Year

2011

Website
Width
3.3 cm
Height
5.5 cm
Length
3.3 cm
Weight
0.016 kg
Speed
0.04 km/h
Sensors

Infrared sensor (for communicating and measuring distance to other robots) and light sensor (for measuring amount of ambient light on robot).

Actuators

Two vibration motors

Degrees of Freedom (DoF)
2
Materials

Body of robot is a printed circuit board with three metal pins for legs.

Compute

ATmega 328 microprocessor

Software

Custom embedded software, written in C.

Power

Lithium-ion battery

Cost
$14