# HeRo 2.0: A Low-Cost Robot for Swarm Robotics Research

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.12391 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.12391/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Feb 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [The Robotarium: A remotely accessible swarm robotics research testbed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04730/) (2016)
- [Flocking-Segregative Swarming Behaviors using Gibbs Random Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.10814/) (2021)
- [A Portable, 3D-Printing Enabled Multi-Vehicle Platform for Robotics Research and Education](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04745/) (2016)
- [Cooperative Object Transportation using Gibbs Random Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.13734/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Discovery and Deployment of Emergent Robot Swarm Behaviors via Representation Learning and Real2Sim2Real Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15937/) (2025)
- [R2BC: Multi-Agent Imitation Learning from Single-Agent Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.18085/) (2025)
- [BricksRL: A Platform for Democratizing Robotics and Reinforcement Learning Research and Education with LEGO](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17490/) (2024)
- [SyncSBC: Decentralized Swarm Behavior Prediction for Synchronized Autonomous Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.06587/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The current state of electronic component miniaturization coupled with the increasing efficiency in hardware and software allow the development of smaller and compact robotic systems. The convenience of using these small, simple, yet capable robots has gathered the research community's attention towards practical applications of swarm robotics. This paper presents the design of a novel platform for swarm robotics applications that is low cost, easy to assemble using off-the-shelf components, and deeply integrated with the most used robotic framework available today: ROS (Robot Operating System). The robotic platform is entirely open, composed of a 3D printed body and open-source software. We describe its architecture, present its main features, and evaluate its functionalities executing experiments using a couple of robots. Results demonstrate that the proposed mobile robot is very effective given its small size and reduced cost, being suitable for swarm robotics research and education.