Overview

• An international team published a study in Physical Review X demonstrating through agent-based simulations that micro-robots can use acoustic signaling to synchronize and self-organize into cohesive swarms.
• Each virtual agent carries only a motor, microphone, speaker and oscillator, syncing its oscillator to the collective acoustic field to migrate toward the strongest signal source.
• Simulated collectives formed diverse morphologies such as snakelike chains, ring structures and localized blobs, exhibiting coordinated movement that navigates confined spaces.
• In simulations swarms re-formed after being deformed, responded to simulated threats by reshaping or compacting and maintained fixed inter-swarm distances through acoustic interference.
• Authors from Penn State and LMU, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, say hardware prototyping and experimental validation are the next steps for translating these theoretical findings.