The Mascarillons are flying cubic automata that can develop collective behaviors and assemblages through swarm-intelligence protocols.
The Mascarillons are helium blimps contrained within a rigid, ultra-light wooden structure. An outer envelope is tightened on the structure, resulting in truly cubic blimps with perfectly flat faces that can assemble in a building bloc manner. The mechatronics equipment is currently composed of ducted fans at the structure’s edges, sonar sensors, light detectors, a compass and an inclinometer, and a Korebot Linux CPU with WLAN. The Mascarillon uses motors to avoid possible obstacles, to perform some task oriented moves, or to adjust for micro-atmospheric movements. The wireless network enables direct exchange of information. A prototype and 3 preliminary versions of the Mascarillons have already been built.
The final result will see a flock of 12 to 20 flying cubes evolving within a spherical inflatable dome equipped with panoscopic projectors.