DEMIURGE

Outreach on the Automatic Design of Robot Swarms

The research project "DEMIURGE: automatic design of robot swarms" was funded by the European Research Council via an ERC Consolidator Grant between 2016 and 2022.

Principal investigator: Mauro Birattari

Science Communication in the DEMIURGE project

The DEMIURGE project advanced the state of the art in swarm robotics by championing the automatic design and realization of collective behaviors for robot swarms.

We, the DEMIURGE team, contend that frontier research must generate knowledge that is accessible to society in all contexts, and for both the specialized and non-specialized public. By participating in science communication activities, we found that outreach and public engagement fostered our creativity and nurtured our scientific work.

We centered our efforts in two science communication initiatives: (i) Swarm robotics for all: video clips to introduce the public to the automatic design of robot swarms; and (ii) Swarm robotics in the media: engaging with media outlets for large scale outreach.

Swarm robotics capsules

Video clips that introduce fundamental concepts of swarm robotics and/or depict experiments conducted in the project. With our swarm robotics capsules, we indend to provide an easy entry to the world of swarm robotics for robotics enthusiasts.

Holidays' specials

Seasonal video clips of relatable swarm robotics experiments. With our Holiday Specials, we intend to to give visibility to the field of swarm robotics beyond the robotics community. This is content that targets all audiences.

Lectures and presentations

A series of excerpts of presentations and lectures that discuss in large our research. This is a content that targets a public that is looking for a deeper discussion on swarm robotics and the automatic design of robot swarms.

In the media

Appearences of the DEMIURGE project and its researchers in the media.

Awards

Jonas Kuckling, Keneth Ubeda Arriaza, and Mauro Birattari were awarded the Best Paper Award at BNAIC 2019, the 31st Belgium-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence Brussels, Belgium, Nov 2019.

David Garzón Ramos, Jonas Kuckling, and Miquel Kegeleirs won the DOTS swarm robotics competition jointly organized by Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Toshiba Bristol Research and Innovation Laboratory and the South Gloucestershire Council’s UMBRELLA project, United Kingdom, Jun 2021.

David Garzón Ramos, Juan P. Bolaños, Jazmín Diaz, Gabriel Pachajoa, and Mauro Birattari were awarded the Best Oral Presentation award at SOPHIC 2021, I Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad de Doctores e Investigadores de Colombia: la ciencia al servicio de la sociedad, Colombia, Aug 2021.

David Garzón Ramos was awarded a Science Communication Award by the Publicity Comitee of ICRA 2022, the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Automation and Robotics, USA, May 2022.



Below David Garzón Ramos' popularization content about ICRA, the most important robotics conference worldwide, which has been produced in the context of the Science Communication Award.

Numbers


A few numbers that depict the communication and engagement activities developed within the DEMIURGE project.

Publications

71 publications on the design of robot swarms

Training

13 training activities coordinated

Popularization

7 popularization articles in robotics media

Channels

4 websites and social media channels

Campaigns

8 appearences in radio and television

Community

35 scientific and non-scientific events attended

Videoclips

18 videos on robotics and swarm robotics

More

31 other diverse engagement activities

Credits

Scientific direction: Mauro Birattari.

Outreach coordination: David Garzón Ramos.

Video direction and production: David Garzón Ramos.

Scripting and content: Mauro Birattari, David Garzón Ramos, Jonas Kuckling, Miquel Kegeleirs, Ilyes Gharbi, Guillermo Legarda Herranz, Muhammad Salman, Ken Hasselmann.

Scientific contribution: Mauro Birattari, David Garzón Ramos, Jonas Kuckling, Miquel Kegeleirs, Ilyes Gharbi, Guillermo Legarda Herranz, Muhammad Salman, Ken Hasselmann, Antoine Ligot, Fernando J. Mendiburu, Federico Pagnozzi, Darko Bozhinoski, Lorenzo Garattoni.

Contact

For information on the DEMIURGE project, please find us in:

info@demiurge.be

@Demiurge_ULB

@Demiurge_ULB

@demiurge-project




Website maintained by David Garzón Ramos.