Infrared Robot Swarm Localization

Infrared localization for autonomous boat swarms.

Rapid-prototyped infrared sensing hardware for a relative localization system on small autonomous surface vehicles. Designed 3D-printed sensor rings, tested IR sensors, calibrated magnetometers, and implemented C++ signal filtering for integration with bearing and range estimation algorithms.

Role: Undergraduate Researcher
When: May 2026 – Jul 2026
Where: Madison, WI
Built with: Embedded C++Infrared (IR)Sensor FusionRapid PrototypingSolderingESP32 MicrocontrollersSTM32

Overview

Small vehicles, working together.

For a swarm to work together, each vehicle needs to know where its neighbors are. I prototyped the infrared hardware behind that: 3D-printed sensor rings, IR sensor testing, magnetometer calibration, and C++ filtering that feeds bearing and range estimation.

CAD model of the IR sensor ring: two stacked plates with sensor mounts around the edge, on four standoffs — CAD model of the 3D-printed IR sensor ring.

Early prototyping

Testing off-the-shelf IR bearing rings.

Early on, I tested a set of purchasable IR bearing rings, each driven by its own ESP32 and mounted on a 3D-printed mast, to see how well one node could pick up the direction of another.

Two IR bearing rings on 3D-printed masts, each wired to an ESP32 on a breadboard — Two IR bearing rings, each on its own ESP32, set up for a bench test.

NYC FIRST STEM Center

Robotics instruction and medical crash-cart hardware.

Students assembling a mecanum-wheel robot chassis at a NYC FIRST workshop