Three University of Missouri-Rolla students captured first place in the 2007
Myron Zucker Student Design Competition, sponsored by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers Industry Applications Society (IEEE
IAS).

For their senior design project, Parviz Palangpour of Columbia, Mo., a PhD
student in computer engineering; Curtis Parrot of Springfield, Mo., a PhD
student in electrical engineering; and Lisa Smith of Rolla, Mo., a PhD in
electrical engineering, modified five robots used for vacuum cleaning to
include communication, navigation and location strategies. The robots
communicated with each other, and using a swarm algorithm, were able to
navigate and search an area for targets of interest. The robots then were able
to detect the intensity of the target at their current position, relate that
information to each other, and use swarm intelligence to collectively converge
on the target.

The students also presented their project “Collective Robotic Search in
Software and Hardware Implementation," at the 42nd IEEE IAS meeting in New
Orleans.