Swarm Series - Lesson Plan Laura Gemmell and Julian Hird ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- Overview Swarm s are made up of simple individuals (such as birds, insects, robots and people) who collectively displa y complex, interesting behaviours . An example of this is how birds flock or ants mo ve through their colonies. These principles can be applied to engineering and robotics to solve real - world problems. This series will provide an introduction to Swarm Engine ering and Robotics, and will showcase some of the projects the Swarm team are working on (for you to invest in) . The series will contain three parts (made up of a very short pre - work, one 8 - min video and a homework exercise): • Swarm Engineering and Algorithms • Swarm Robotics • Swarm Investing This series was designed for you by Laura and Julian who are both PhD students on the Robotics program ( FARSCOPE PhD ). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- Session 1 – Swarm Engineering and Algorithms Learning Objectives: • Understand what swarm engineering is and where it i s used. • Recognise where swarms occur in nature and the relevant swarm algorithms Pre - work Flocking is one of the most famous Swarm Algorithms. 1. Watch this video to understand what we mean by flocking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV9wOTqOQw0 2. Play around with this online simulator and try to understand what separation, alignment and cohesion mean. Video Covering what is Swarm Engineering, different Swarm Algorithms and their uses Exercise List the Swarm Algorithms in the video in the Swarm Algorithms table provided. Pay attention to what the inspiration for the algorithm was (e.g. how ants collect food) and how the use cases in the real world are (e.g. how drones fly). Homework • Research som e more swarm algorithm online (Wikipedia is a good place to start) and add them to the table. If you are stuck for ideas, try decision making or look at this list of swarm behaviours • Make a visualisation to explain one of the swarm algorithms in more detail (this is sometimes called an infographic ). You can do this by hand, or on the computer (use whatever software you want, we recommend this free online design tool called Canva ). An example of one we made on Hiving can be found on the last page of the Part 1 document. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- Session 2 – Swarm Robotics Learning Objectives: • Describe the different functional blocks of a robot • Differentiate between swarm robotics and normal robotics • Be able to design swarm robots for a given application Pre - work • Research 6 of the robots from the following list (TBC). Try and find out the following 1. Where are they used . Ie what is their environment ? 2. Describe how they move in their environment? 3. Can t hey sense their environment ? How do they do this? • Try and come up with groups for the robots you’ve selected. Video Covers the discipline of Swarm robotics which sees how the previous topic can be applied in the physical world. First a brief overview of mobile robot s is given and then the session describes how swarm robo tics is different with examples of swarm robotic research • Worksheet (either online or printed) wi ll be provided with blanks for each of the building blocks of a swarm robot. Once filled out it can be used a reference sheet for the homework. Homework Design a swarm to complete a task of your choosing (for example, cleaning an oil spill or finding survivors after a disaster ). Think about what each robot in the swarm would require using the building blocks identified lecture. Also think about what behaviors the swarm would need to display for your chosen task. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Session 3 – Swarm Investing Learning Objectives: • Understand three different types of investment ( Blue - Sky Thinking, Business - Ready and Social Impact ) • Compare 2 - min research pitches and decide which investment would best fit • Determine how to invest £1million in the research Pre - work For researchers to have the money and resources to carry out their research, they need to attract funding. There are different types of funding and investment out there (for research and businesses). In the exercise, we are going to focus on three types of investment: • Blue Sky Thinking – this type of research is trying to do something extremely exiting, new done before. This type of fundin g is risky as it will likely fail (as the ideas are so innovative), but if it works the reward would be large and could change the world. • Business Ready – is the research ready to become a business? In this case, you should think about whether the research could make money as a business. (Questions to consider here – does the research solve a problem? Will people, companies or governments be willing to pay for the solution? Do other similar companies exist?) • Social Impact – will the research help society or the world? This type of research is very important and often overlooked in funding. A useful way to judge research for social impact is whether the research meets any of the UN Sustainabi lity Goals Video Introduction video, and several 2 - min videos with summaries of research. Exercise Watch the 2 - min pitches from us and our colleagues. Fill in the Investment Table provided with a name and summary the research, what type of investment you think is most suitable and why, and how much you would invest in the research (pretend you have £1million and you can give it all to one research or you can divide it up between everyone). Homework That’s it from us. We hope you’ve enjoyed this series. Here are show additional resources: