SWARMz Cup: Collaborative Kamikaze Drone Swarm 2024/2025

ASSETs+ is supporting an exciting challenge that pushes the limits of collaborative drone programming. Open to students and companies, it offers a prize pool of over €4,000!

This unique challenge combines technology and strategy, allowing participants to push the limits of collaborative drone programming in a fun and competitive environment.

Why Participate?

By participating in the SWARMz Cup, you can:

Experiment with innovative strategies in robotics.
Compete against other talented teams in a playful spirit.
Develop practical skills for cutting-edge industrial fields.

The Challenge

In a virtual pool measuring 50m x 25m with a height of 20m, two teams of aerial drones compete to protect their floating drone-carriers on the water’s surface. Each team must defend its own drone-carrier while deploying its drones to neutralize the opponent’s carrier. Attack strategies, defense, and communication are key to clinching victory.

Communication and Detection

Communication:

Drone-carriers: Each drone-carrier has a long-range communication capability, allowing for extended strategic exchanges. However, messages sent by drone-carriers are comprehensible to the enemy team, requiring teams to plan and code their communications strategically.
Mutual tracking: Each drone-carrier constantly knows the position of the other.
Drones: Communication between drones is limited to short-range interactions among themselves and with their carrier. Drones must be close to their carrier to send data, respecting their outgoing communication range. However, any message sent by a drone can be intercepted by an enemy within range.

Detection:

Drone detection zone: Each drone detects enemies within a 5-meter radius.
Drone-carrier detection zone: Approximately 15 meters. When a drone or drone-carrier detects an enemy, this information is automatically transmitted via an open channel, accessible to both allies and adversaries. However, players are responsible for managing the sharing of this strategic information through internal channels. Encryption of communications is encouraged but may be limited by proximity and the speed of interactions.

Equipment and Armament

Drones:

Kamikaze explosion: Drones can explode to inflict damage within a 2.5-meter radius, causing 3 points of damage.
Laser missiles: Each drone has two missiles, each inflicting 1 point of damage. Missiles instantly hit their target if it is in their line of fire. The firing is modeled as a lethal cylinder.
Shooting speed: Drones shoot faster than drone-carriers. Due to their small size and agility, their role is to perform quick attacks and harass the opponent. This allows them to maximize their effectiveness by firing more frequently. Their recharge time is 3 seconds, supporting a rapid rate of fire.

Drone-carriers:

Missile launcher: Each drone-carrier is equipped with a missile launcher with a reserve of four missiles (2 points of damage each). The missiles from drone-carriers follow a visible trajectory, adding a strategic and temporal aspect to the combat.
Firing sector: The missile launcher can pivot 360° with limited rotation speed. The weapon system has an extended range but slower firing compared to drones. Their recharge time is 6 seconds, as their shots are heavier and more strategic.
Firing range: The drone-carriers have a cannon with a range of 15 meters, allowing them to shoot further, but their firing is slower compared to drones.

Duration and Objectives:

Duration: Each battle lasts 5 minutes.
Initial Positions: The drone-carriers start at opposite corners of the combat zone, surrounded by their drones.
Objectives: Protect your own drone-carrier while destroying the opponent’s carrier. Each destroyed drone-carrier scores 5 points. Each enemy drone destroyed scores 2 points.

Communication Method Tactical exchanges are managed via ROS2/Gazebo:

Open channel: Automatic broadcast of detected enemy positions, limited by detection range.
Internal channel: Reserved for each team for internal strategic exchanges (range limit).
Game Master channel: Reserved for the supervision of the simulation.

Simulation Platform The simulation platform is provided by the University of Toulon. It allows participants to test their algorithms in a realistic environment. Programming in C++/Python.

Proceeding of the Challenge:

Registration Deadline: January 30, 2025
Phases:
- Qualifications: February 2025 – April 2025
- Semi-finals: May/June 2025 in Toulon
- Final: June 2025 at the Le Bourget Air Show

Prizes: