Mechatronic Design for Multi Robots-Insect Swarms Interactions

This paper presents the concept of a robotic system collaborating with a swarm of social insects inside their hive. This robot consists of a micro-and macro-manipulator and a tracking system. The micro-manipulator uses bio-mimetic agents to interact with an individual specimen. The macromanipulator positions and keeps the micro-manipulator’s base around the given individual while moving in the hive. This individual is tracked by a fiducial marker-based visual detection and localisation system, which also provides positions of the biomimetic agents. The base of the system was experimentally verified in a honeybee observation hive, where it flawlessly tracked the honeybee queen for several hours, gathering sufficient data to extract the behaviours of honeybee workers in the queen’s vicinity. These data were then used in simulation to verify if the micro-manipulator’s bio-mimetic agents could mimic some of the honeybee workers’ behaviours.