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“Spatially Targeted Communication and Self-Assembly,” by Nithin Mathews, Anders Lyhne Christensen, Rehan O’Grady, and Marco Dorigo, from Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, was presented at IROS 2012 in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Demonstrated by a team of researchers at the 2012 Intelligent Robots and Systems conference, this little army of swarm bots is able to communicate with an overhead UAS by simply using a series of flashing, colored LED lights. This system not only lets the aircraft communicate with a specific robot, but also pass along instructions. All without the need for a wireless signal that could be easily jammed.
Source: YouTube