Sailing a Boat Through a Macroscopic Smart-Fluid Composed of a Robot Swarm

Abstract

We investigate how a physically inert vehicle, which we call a “boat,” can locomote through a smart fluid by communicating with the particles of a smart fluid, and thereby inducing the fluid to exert forces and moments on the boat. Our smart fluid is composed of a swarm of Kilobot robots that move on a flat surface. The boat communicates with the fluid particles through wireless messages sent from its bow and stern. By sending different pairs of messages from its bow and stern the boat directs the subsets of the smart fluid in different locations to move in different ways. This enables the boat to maneuver forward, turn left, and turn right. In experiments on a physical testbed, we evaluate how the presence and size of the boat’s rudder affects motion efficacy. We find that using a small rudder provides better overall motion than using no rudder or using a large rudder.