Chris on AI, autonomous swarming, home automation and Rust!
Practical AI
When a Drone Show Is Not a Swarm
Chris explains why preprogrammed drone shows are fleets and how a true swarm would generate shapes emergently.
This episode is a special crossover between the Practical AI podcast and The Changelog podcast. Chris was recently invited by longtime friends Jerod Santo and Adam Stacoviak, cohosts of The Changelog, to join them on the show. They discuss AI, drones, robotics, swarming technology, and the rise of high-performance edge computing with Rust. Chris points out that open source software, small AI models, and affordable hardware are making home automation and local AI accessible to everyone. From automating household functions to experimenting with drones and single-board computers, Chris describes how hands-on maker projects are shaping a bright future for physical AI, on small budgets and right from the comfort of your own home.
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This week we have extended show notes below from Chris!
Swarming & Fully Autonomous Multi-Agent UxV Systems
Chris’s Definition of Swarming (anchor link in show notes)
Chris’s definition of Swarming“Swarming occurs when numerous independent fully-autonomous multi-agentic platforms exhibit highly-coordinated locomotive and emergent behaviors with agency and self-governance in any domain (air, ground, sea, undersea, space), functioning as a single independent logical distributed decentralized decisioning entity for purposes of C3 (command, control, communications) with human operators on-the-loop, to implement actions that achieve strategic, tactical, or operational effects in the furtherance of a mission.”
© 2025 Chris Benson
Conceptual Foundations
- Swarm Robotics – Wikipedia
High-level overview of swarm robotics as decentralized robot collectives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_robotics - Swarm Robotic Platforms – Wikipedia
Survey of hardware platforms used in swarm robotics research.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_robotic_platforms - Swarm Intelligence – Wikipedia
Broader algorithms and theory behind collective intelligence (beyond robots).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_intelligence - Ant Robotics – Wikipedia
Nature-inspired “ant-like” robotics as a special case of swarm robotics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_robotics
Open Research & Multi-Robot Resources (Stepping-Stones Toward True Swarms)
- Programming Multiple Robots with ROS 2 (online book)
Free book on multi-robot systems, ROS 2, and the Robot Middleware Framework (RMF).
https://osrf.github.io/ros2multirobotbook - Simulation with ROS 2 & Gazebo (ROS 2 Humble tutorial)
Official tutorial on connecting ROS 2 to Gazebo simulation.
https://docs.ros.org/en/humble/Tutorials/Advanced/Simulators/Gazebo/Gazebo.html - Spawning Multiple Robots in Gazebo with ROS 2
Hands-on tutorial to launch N robots in Gazebo, each with its own namespace.
https://www.theconstruct.ai/spawning-multiple-robots-in-gazebo-with-ros2 - ROS 2 Multi-Robot Simulation Best Practices (Discourse thread)
Discussion of patterns for multi-robot systems (domains, namespaces, Nav2, etc.).
https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/multi-robot-simulation-best-practices/38987
Getting Hands-On: Consumer Robotics, ROS 2 & Gazebo
ROS 2 (Robot Operating System 2)
- Official ROS 2 Documentation – Humble (LTS)
Main docs for ROS 2 Humble (recommended distro) with tutorials and APIs.
https://docs.ros.org/en/humble - ROS 2 Installation Guide (Humble)
Step-by-step install on supported platforms.
https://docs.ros.org/en/humble/Installation.html - “From Zero to Robotics Hero: A Beginner’s Guide to ROS 2” (article)
Beginner-friendly overview with ideas for where to go next (MoveIt, Nav2, multi-robot, etc.).
https://riyagoja.medium.com/from-zero-to-robotics-hero-a-beginners-guide-to-ros-2-90ac9c3b87ba - ROS 2 Tutorial for Beginners (2025 guide)
Up-to-date intro that walks you from install to simulating your first robot in 2025.
https://www.timesofexplore.com/2025/10/ros2-tutorial-beginners-build-first-robot-2025.html
Gazebo Simulation
- Gazebo Sim – Official Site
Modern Gazebo (Ignition) simulator; models, worlds, and docs.
https://gazebosim.org - Getting Started with Gazebo (Docs)
Official “start here” guide for using Gazebo and Gazebo Fuel assets.
https://gazebosim.org/docs/latest/getstarted - Classic Gazebo Tutorials (still useful for fundamentals)
https://classic.gazebosim.org/tutorials
micro-ROS (ROS 2 on Microcontrollers)
- micro-ROS – ROS 2 for Microcontrollers
Official site for running ROS 2 on tiny embedded boards.
https://micro.ros.org - micro-ROS GitHub Organization
Repositories, examples, and tutor...
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