Customized Sensing for Robot Swarms

This paper describes a novel and compact design for an omni-directional stereo camera. A key goal of the work is to investigate the use of rapid prototyping to make the mirrors for the device, by 3D printing the mirror shape and chroming the surface. The target application is in robot swarms, and we discuss how the ability to create a customized omni-camera enables sensing to become an integrated part of system design, avoiding the constraints that arise when using commercial sensors.