Swarm Robotics

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Overview

Swarm robotics studies how many robots can cooperate without relying on a single controller with a complete view of the team. Common approaches include local flocking and formation rules, pheromone-based exploration, consensus and market-based task allocation, and communication-free coordination; learning methods such as multi-agent reinforcement learning and imitation learning are also used. Researchers test these methods in tasks such as foraging, coverage, navigation, and search and rescue, using both simulation and physical teams of aerial and ground robots. A central challenge is making coordination scale and recover from failures while working within limits on sensing, communication, computation, safety assurance, and transfer from simulation to real robots.

Latest papers

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99 papers13 papers in the last four weeks, down 35% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. ImpedanceDiffusion: Diffusion-Based Global Path Planning for UAV Swarm Navigation with Generative Impedance Control

    Mar 10, 2026Faryal Batool, Yasheerah Yaqoot, Muhammad Ahsan Mustafa +3Aerial RoboticsSwarm Robotics

    Intelligent Space Robotics Laboratory, Center for Digital Engineering, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia.

  2. LLM-Guided Decentralized Exploration with Self-Organizing Robot Teams

    Mar 5, 2026Hiroaki Kawashima, Shun Ikejima, Takeshi Takai +2Multi-Robot ExplorationAutonomous Robot Exploration

    Graduate School of Information Science, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan · School of Social Information Science, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan · Takenaka Research & Development Institute, Takenaka Corporation, Chiba, Japan +1

  3. Generative adversarial imitation learning for robot swarms: Learning from human demonstrations and trained policies

    Mar 3, 2026Mattes Kraus, Jonas KucklingRobot Imitation LearningLearning from Demonstration

    University of Konstanz, Department of Computer and Information Science, Konstanz, Germany · Cluster of Excellence “Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior”, University of Konstanz · Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz

  4. Position-Based Flocking for Persistent Alignment without Velocity Sensing

    Feb 25, 2026Hossein B. Jond, Veli Bakırcıoğlu, Logan E. Beaver +3Multi-Agent ControlSwarm Robotics

    Department of Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czechia · Aksaray University, 68100, Aksaray, Türkiye · Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA +4

  5. A Micro-Macro Model of Encounter-Driven Information Diffusion in Robot Swarms

    Feb 24, 2026Davis S. Catherman, Carlo PinciroliSwarm Robotics

    Robotics Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

  6. SIGMAS: Second-Order Interaction-based Grouping for Overlapping Multi-Agent Swarms

    Feb 23, 2026Minah Lee, Saibal MukhopadhyayMulti-Agent SystemsSwarm Robotics

    The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA · Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

  7. Flocking phase transition and threat responses in bio-inspired autonomous drone swarms

    Dec 24, 2025Matthieu Verdoucq, Dari Trendafilov, Clément Sire +3Aerial RoboticsMulti-Robot Systems

    Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile, Université de Toulouse, France · Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) & Université de Toulouse – Paul Sabatier, France · Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, CNRS & Université de Toulouse – Paul Sabatier, France

  8. LLM-Flock: LLM-Driven Decentralized Multi-Robot Flocking via Influence-Based Consensus with Collision Avoidance

    May 10, 2025Peihan Li, Lifeng ZhouMulti-Robot Formation ControlSwarm Robotics

    Drexel University, United States

  9. Hearing the shape of an arena with spectral swarm robotics

    Mar 25, 2024Leo Cazenille, Nicolas Lobato-Dauzier, Alessia Loi +7Swarm RoboticsSpectral Methods

    Université Paris Cité, CNRS, LIED UMR 8236, F-75006 Paris, France · LIMMS (IRL2820)/CNRS-IIS, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan · Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, Laboratoire Jean Perrin, F-75005, Paris, France +3