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Updated: Mar 3, 2026

The Modular Design and Production of an Intelligent Robot Based on a Closed-Loop Control Strategy
Published on: October 14, 2017
Mercator: A modular swarm-dedicated robot platform
Miquel Kegeleirs1, David Garzón Ramos1,2, Jeanne Szpirer1
1IRIDIA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
None:
Despite decades of research, swarm robotics still lacks realistic applications. A primary obstacle is the absence of modern, reliable, and affordable robot platforms for experimentation. Existing commercial robots are often outdated or too limited in sensing, computation, and communication. We introduce Mercator, a modular mobile robot purpose-built for contemporary swarm studies in both laboratory and indoor environments. Mercator integrates on-board object and people recognition, short- and long-range obstacle detection, ceiling-based tracking, and local, decentralized communication. By combining these capabilities in a low-cost and extensible package, Mercator enables swarm robotics research to align with modern mobile robotics standards, supporting navigation, mapping, and advanced perception in laboratory settings. This design promotes closer alignment between laboratory swarm experiments and contemporary robotic systems used in real-world settings. The platform has already been used in peer-reviewed scientific work and several master's theses, and we plan to expand its use in future research and teaching.
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