Large swarms of extremely simple robots (i.e., capable just of basic motion activities, like propelling forward or self-rotating) are widely applied to study collective task performance based on self-organization or local algorithms instead of sophisticated programming and global swarm coordination. Moreover, they represent a versatile yet affordable platform for experimental studies in physics, particularly in active matter - non-equilibrium assemblies of particles converting their energy to a directed motion. However, a large set of robotics platforms is being used in different studies, while the universal design is still lacking. Despite such platforms possess advantages in certain application scenarios, their large number sufficiently limits further development of results in the field, as advancing some study requires to buy or manually produce the corresponding robots. To address this issue, we develop an open-source Swarmodroid 1.0 platform based on bristle-bots with reconfigurable 3D-printed bodies, external control of motion velocity, and basic capabilities of velocity profile programming. In addition, we introduce AMPy software package in Python featuring OpenCV-based extraction of robotic swarm kinematics accompanied by the evaluation of key physical quantities describing the collective dynamics. We perform a detailed analysis of individual Swarmodroids' motion characteristics and address their use cases with two examples: a cargo transport performed by self-rotating robots and a velocity-dependent jam formation in a bottleneck by self-propelling robots. Finally, we provide a comparison of existing centimeter-scale robotic platforms, a review of key quantities describing collective dynamics of many-particle systems, and a comprehensive outlook considering potential applications as well as further directions for fundamental studies and Swarmodroid 1.0 platform development.

翻译：由极简机器人（即仅具备基本运动能力，如直线推进或自旋转）组成的大规模群体，被广泛用于研究基于自组织或局部算法而非复杂编程与全局协调的集体任务执行。此类机器人不仅代表了物理学实验研究中一种灵活且经济实惠的平台，特别适用于活性物质——一种将自身能量转化为定向运动的非平衡粒子集合体。然而，当前不同研究中采用了大量机器人平台，而通用设计仍付之阙如。尽管这些平台在特定应用场景中具有优势，但其多样性严重制约了该领域成果的进一步发展，因为推进某项研究往往需要购买或手工制造相应的机器人。为解决此问题，我们开发了基于可重构3D打印躯体的鬃毛机器人开源平台Swarmodroid 1.0，该平台具备运动速度外部控制及速度曲线编程等基本功能。此外，我们推出了基于Python的AMPy软件包，通过OpenCV实现机器人群体运动学提取，并伴随评估描述集体动力学关键物理量的功能。我们详细分析了单个Swarmodroid的运动特性，并通过两个实例展示其应用场景：自旋转机器人执行的货物运输，以及自推进机器人在瓶颈区域形成的速度依赖型堵塞。最后，我们比较了现有厘米级机器人平台，综述了描述多粒子系统集体动力学的关键物理量，并对潜在应用、基础研究未来方向及Swarmodroid 1.0平台开发的综合展望进行了阐述。