Objective In classical micro robotics, highly integrated and specialised robots have been developed in the past years which are able to perform micro manipulations controlled by a central high-level control system. On the other hand, technology is still far away from the first "artificial ant" which would integrate all capabilities of these simple, yet highly efficient swarm building insects. This has been the motivation of other research fields focusing on studying such swarm behaviour and transferring it to simulation or physical robot agents. Realisations of small robot groups of 10 to 20 robots are capable to mimic some aspects of such social insects, however, the employed robots are usually huge compared to their natural counterparts, and very limited in terms of perception, manipulation and co-operation capabilities.The proposed project aims to take a leap forward in robotics research by combining experts in both fields, micro robotics and distributed multi agent systems. The project aims at technological advances to facilitate the mass-production of micro robots which can then be employed as a "real" swarm consisting of up to 1,000 robot clients. These clients will all be equipped with limited, pre-rational on-board intelligence. The swarm will consist of a huge number of heterogeneous robots, differing in the type of sensors, manipulators and computational power. Such a robot swarm is expected to perform a variety of applications, including micro assembly, biological, medical or cleaning tasks.Building on a large expertise in micro robot technologies, the project addresses topics like polymer actuators, collective perception, using (instead of fighting) micro scaling effects, artificial and collective intelligence. All the competencies required are available within the consortium. The project results will enable humans to further understand the micro world, bridge the gap between micro and nano technologies and be the stepping-stone to a "real artificial ant". Fields of science engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systemsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsnatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomologyengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsswarm robotics Keywords Nanotechnology Risk Assessment Programme(s) FP6-IST - Information Society Technologies: thematic priority under the specific programme "Integrating and strengthening the European research area" (2002-2006). Topic(s) IST-2002-2.3.4.2 - FET pro-actives Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme IP - Integrated Project Coordinator UNIVERSITAET KARLSRUHE (TH) EU contribution No data Address KAISERSTRASSE 12 76131 KARLSRUHE Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (10) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE Switzerland EU contribution No data Address ECUBLENS 1015 LAUSANNE See on map Total cost No data FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V. Germany EU contribution No data Address HANSASTRASSE 27C 80686 MUENCHEN See on map Total cost No data KARL-FRANZENS-UNIVERSITAET GRAZ Austria EU contribution No data Address UNIVERSITAETSPLATZ 3 8010 GRAZ See on map Total cost No data NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS Greece EU contribution No data Address 9, HEROON POLYTECHNIOU STR. 15773 ATHENS See on map Total cost No data SCUOLA SUPERIORE DI STUDI UNIVERSITARI E DI PERFEZIONAMENTO SANT'ANNA Italy EU contribution No data Address PIAZZA MARTIRI DELLA LIBERTA, 33 56127 PISA See on map Total cost No data SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address HOWARD STREET S1 1WB SHEFFIELD See on map Total cost No data TO BE DEFINED EU contribution No data Address See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITAD DE BARCELONA Spain EU contribution No data Address GRAN VIA CORTS CATALANES 585 08007 BARCELONA See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART Germany EU contribution No data Address KEPLERSTRASSE 7 70174 STUTTGART See on map Total cost No data UPPSALA UNIVERSITET Sweden EU contribution No data Address 751 05 UPPSALA See on map Total cost No data