Swarm robotics is an emerging field inspired by the collective behavior of social organisms such as ants, bees, and birds, where simple agents cooperate to achieve complex tasks. This project presents the design and implementation of a Swarm Bot System consisting of one leader robot and two follower robots, developed using the ESP32 microcontroller, L298N motor driver, DC motors, and wheels. The primary objective of the project is to demonstrate coordinated movement and cooperative behavior among multiple robots using a leader– follower architecture. In the proposed system, the leader bot acts as the central decision-making unit. It is either manually controlled or programmed with predefined movement logic. The leader continuously transmits motion commands wirelessly using the built-in communication capabilities of the ESP32. These commands include directional instructions such as forward, backward, left, right, and stop. The follower bots receive these commands in real time and replicate the leader’s movements, thereby maintaining formation and synchronized motion. This approach simplifies swarm coordination while effectively demonstrating the principles of distributed robotic systems. Each robot is equipped with an ESP32 microcontroller that processes control signals and manages communication. The L298N motor driver module serves as an interface between the low-power control signals from the ESP32 and the high-current requirements of the DC motors. The motors, coupled with wheels, enable precise and reliable movement of the robots on flat surfaces. The modular hardware design ensures ease of assembly, flexibility, and scalability, allowing additional follower bots to be integrated into the swarm with minimal changes. The project emphasizes low-cost implementation, real-time coordination, and scalability, making it suitable for educational, research, and prototype-level applications. By employing a leader–follower strategy, the system avoids complex inter-robot negotiation while still achieving effective swarm behavior. This project demonstrates the fundamental concepts of swarm intelligence, wireless coordination, and multi-robot control, and it provides a strong foundation for future enhancements such as obstacle avoidance, autonomous navigation, sensor integration, and artificial intelligence–based decision-making. Overall, the Swarm Bot project successfully validates the feasibility of coordinated multi-robot systems using simple hardware and efficient communication, highlighting its potential applications in areas such as search and rescue, surveillance, automation, and smart robotics.
Vidwan et al. (Wed,) studied this question.