I am currently working as part of the firmware team for NEST (Networked Exploration Swarm Toolkit), under NU SEDS (Northeastern Students for the Exploration and Development of Space). NEST is a project aimed at developing a scalable multi-agent robotics framework for COBRA, the 2022 NASA BIG Idea Challenge winner. The goal is to enable efficient coordination of a swarm of COBRA robots for lunar exploration. My work involves implementing ROS 2 for real-time messaging, multi-agent control, and mesh networking over 4G/LTE, ensuring reliable communication between distributed agents. Additionally, I am developing embedded systems in C/C++, integrating RTOS for real-time processing, sensor fusion, and fault-tolerant communication to enhance COBRA’s autonomy and adaptability in extreme environments. To support simulation and testing, I will utilize Python for data generation and system validation in Simulink, while also optimizing COBRA’s microcontroller programming for real-time motor control, improving responsiveness and power efficiency. Through this experience, I am strengthening my expertise in embedded systems, real-time networking, and multi-agent robotics, key areas for scalable swarm autonomy.

Unfortunately, NEST is still in its early development stages, and due to the confidentiality of the ongoing work, I am currently unable to share further technical details or results. I am currently learning and developing many of the skills above and will showcase their use in the upcoming months. I expect concrete updates by May 2025, since the project is still in its early stages.

Here are the insights about the COBRA project, which NEST is building the framework for.