Orb Swarm

Orb Swarm (also known simply as SWARM) is a kinetic art work consisting of six semi-autonomous spherical robots.^[1] It was created in 2007 by a group of engineers and artists including Michael Prados, Jon Foote, Lee Sonko, and many others.^[2] Orb Swarm was inspired by previous work in robotics and kinetic art, and seeks to emulate swarm behavior in nature and human dancing.^[3] Nearly all of the hardware and software in the project is open source, and others are encouraged to build upon the project's efforts.^[4]

Two orbs from Orb Swarm at the Maker Faire 2008.

Technology

Each orb is driven by two motors, one for drive and one for steering.^[5] The shell is made of welded, water jet cut aluminum, and it moves by pushing against the weight of the batteries inside.^[6] For guidance and control, there is a GPS module, an IMU, dead reckoning, and a computer running Linux.

Each orb has several banks of full color LEDs and a sound system that are controlled programmatically.

Performances

Orb Swarm first appeared at Burning Man in 2007. Other performances have included Maker Faire,^[7] Coachella,^[8] the California Academy of Sciences Nightlife, Robogames, and the Techkriti festival in Kanpur, India.^[9]