The new art of herding robots or how to manage a swarm of robots (e.g. against drone incursions)

Food for thought!

"The urgency of this work comes from rapidly evolving real-world conditions. Drone incursions are increasing in both frequency and affordability ... “It still requires a centralized and expensive response from the Air Force just to take down a $200 drone.” 

Swarm robotics offers an alternative. By deploying many low-cost systems, the team aims to shift the economics of defense. “To take out a $200 drone, we want to do it in less than $2,000,” Nowzari explained. ...

The team’s goal is to enable military planners to assemble, adapt, and deploy swarm-control and coordination systems using modular,building-block components, reducing complexity while improving mission effectiveness. 

They are building a Smart Swarm system with three components:
a Swarm Decision Guidance Assistant,
Swarm Operations Assistant, and
Adversarial Risk Assistant.

Together, these tools help operators interpret data, assign tasks, and respond to changing conditions without being overwhelmed.  ...

To explore these questions, the project incorporates an unexpected element: a video game. ... the simulator translates swarm behavior into an interactive, accessible format. In the game, called Astroswarm, players design simple algorithms to control fleets of spaceships defending a target, mirroring real-world swarm coordination. ..."

The new art of herding robots | George Mason University "As autonomous systems grow in number and complexity, researchers at George Mason University are tackling a critical question: How can a single human operator manage an entire swarm of robots? Professors Alexander Brodsky, Cameron Nowzari, and Daigo Shishika are designing smart-swarm technologies to help military planners coordinate unmanned aerial and ground vehicles within Human-Machine Integrated Formations. "