A paper by Bert Tanner, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Center for Autonomous and Robotic Systems, and doctoral candidate Chanaka Thushitha Bandara was named a finalist for the Best Paper Award at the 15th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence, held June 8-10, 2026, in Darmstadt, Germany. The team developed a navigation system that allows autonomous boats to maintain formation while safely avoiding obstacles and adapting to currents. The system performed robustly in simulations and real-world tests.
Learn more: https://ants2026.org/#conference
