# A Study of a Class of Vibration-Driven Robots: Modeling, Analysis, Control and Design of the Brushbot

## TL;DR

This paper investigates vibration-driven brushbots by deriving their dynamic models, designing two types, validating models experimentally, and demonstrating coordinated control in swarms, highlighting their simplicity and robustness.

## Contribution

It introduces new dynamic models for brushbots, presents two innovative designs, and demonstrates effective control strategies including swarm coordination.

## Key findings

- Models accurately predict brushbot motion
- Designs are simple and effective for vibration-based locomotion
- Swarm control algorithms work robustly in experiments

## Abstract

In this paper we present a study of a specific class of vibration-driven robots: the brushbots. In a bottom-up fashion, we start by deriving dynamic models of the brushes and we discuss the conditions under which these models can be employed to describe the motion of brushbots. Then, we present two designs of brushbots: a fully-actuated platform and a differential-drive-like one. The former is employed to experimentally validate both the developed theoretical models and the devised motion control algorithms. Finally, a coordinated-control algorithm is implemented on a swarm of differential-drive-like brushbots in order to demonstrate the design simplicity and robustness that can be achieved employing a vibration-based locomotion strategy.