Swarm robot synchronization using RFID tags

The last progress in the pervasive computing field has led to the distribution of knowledge and computational power in the environment, rather than condensing it in a single, powerful entity. This allows agents to behave like insects in a swarm, that can fulfil a task communicating directly or indirectly among them. Following this vision of Ambient Intelligence, our work proposes a straightforward solution to coordinate a swarm of robots that have low computational capabilities. All the information and instructions are found in RFID tags that are used as a pervasive memory distributed in the environment. These robots exploit ubiquitous computing to make a formation in space, synchronise with team mates in the same zone, and finally complete a cooperative task. Before implementing the solution in a real scenario, we show the validation of our algorithm in a simulation environment. © 2009 IEEE.