RoboticsRobot swarmsStory 04
Six open drones dodge each other
What changedSwarmNxt combines open hardware, fleet-wide over-the-air updates and decentralized navigation in a reproducible drone platform. Six physical drones formed and reconfigured while avoiding one another in indoor experiments. The integrated open stack is the contribution; both tests relied on external motion capture, so they do not establish GPS-denied field autonomy.
The useful part
Why it matters
Researchers can modify a complete swarm system instead of stitching together closed aircraft, fleet management and navigation components.
Worth doing
What to do next
Reproduce the indoor experiments, then replace motion capture with onboard localization before drawing conclusions about field deployment.
Keep in mind
Good to know
The experiments rely on external motion capture for global position and do not prove GPS-denied autonomy.
Evidence