Florabot, 2010

Swarm Robots for the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo

Abstract

In this project, we design and implement 538 flower robots for the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo. Our goal is to make each individual equip identical minimum rules, but achieve highly intelligent behaviors. Hence, we adopt the idea of “Self-Organization” to realize “Swarm Intelligence”. Each "Florabot" has a MCU, IR transceivers, tri-color LEDs, a motor and a stretch structure. The IR transceiver on top of the flower is capable of sensing the presence of a visitor. Once the visitor is detected, according to how close the visitor is, the tri-color LEDs in the head change color and the stretch structure of the head modifies its size. Moreover, a Florabot propagates the information of visitor’s presence to its neighbors by IR transceivers at the base. The neighbors further react to and propagate the received information to the rest causing chain reactions.