Swarm robotics is the study of how to make robots collaborate and collectively solve a task, that would otherwise be impossible to solve by a single individual of these robots. This true collaboration is the beauty of swarm robotics, it is the ideal of teamwork. Every swarm member contributes equally and everyone shares the same higher-level objectives.

When benefits of swarm robotics systems are discussed, typically three main advantages are mentioned. The first advantage is that these systems are robust. Robustness is defined as fault tolerance and fail-safety and it is achieved by massive redundancy and the avoidance of single-point-of-failures.

The second advantage is flexibility. Each robot is able to complete the task of any other. The swarm is able to adapt to a wide range of tasks because often specialization in terms of hardware is not necessary. The robots overcome limits in their capabilities by cooperation.

The third advantage is scalability. The applied methods such as the control algorithms of the robots scale to any size of the swarm. It can maintain its function while increasing its size without the need to redefine the way its parts interact.

As many other research topics connected to robotics, also swarm robotics has not yet many real-world applications that are already on the market. Besides the often recited standard applications of defence, cleaning, monitoring, exploration, and guarding, there is a vast variety of ongoing research projects in swarm robotics and many of them have high potential for future applications.