Distributed Spatial Awareness for Robot Swarms

Distributed Spatial Awareness for Robot Swarms | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Distributed Spatial Awareness for Robot Swarms Simon Jones, Sabine Hauert This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6682240/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 22 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Autonomous Robots → Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Building a distributed spatial awareness within a swarm of locally sensing and communicating robots enables new swarm algorithms. We use local observations by robots of each other and Gaussian Belief Propagation message passing combined with continuous swarm movement to build a global and distributed swarm-centric frame of reference. With low bandwidth and computation requirements, this shared reference frame allows new swarm algorithms. We characterise the system in simulation and demonstrate two example algorithms, then demonstrate reliable performance on real robots with imperfect sensing. Swarm Intralogistics Shape formation Gaussian Belief Propagation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 22 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Autonomous Robots → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 23 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 11 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 05 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Jun, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 06 Jun, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 17 May, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 17 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 16 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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