Watch this short video for an overview of the Swarm-Rescue challenge and its simulation environment.

Overview of the Swarm-Rescue competition and its simulation environment.

Welcome to Swarm-Rescue

Swarm-Rescue is a student competition about autonomous multi-drone search and rescue. Teams design their own drone controller and test it in a shared simulation environment.

The competition is organized by the Centre Interdisciplinaire d’Études pour la Défense et la Sécurité (CIEDS), IP Paris, AMIAD and the Agence de l’Innovation de Défense (AID). A parallel competition has been organized in India since 2024 by the Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).

Who Can Participate?

The competition is open to:

  • students from IP Paris schools;
  • students from French Ministry of Defense schools;
  • students from participating Indian institutions.

No advanced technical skills are required. Basic Python knowledge is sufficient, while creativity and scientific curiosity are highly valued.

Teams are evaluated on:

  • speed and quality of exploration;
  • the number of injured people rescued;
  • the number of drones safely returned.

The Competition

The challenge takes place exclusively in this simulation environment, with maps of increasing complexity. Drones must collaborate despite limited communication, handle sensor and communication failures, and complete the mission autonomously. The final evaluation is carried out on an unknown map revealed at the time of the demonstration.

Animated example of a drone exploring an empty environment in the Swarm-Rescue simulator.
Illustration of the swarm-rescue simulator with one drone in an empty environment.

The Partners

French Organization

CIEDS AMIAD AID

Indian Organization

DRDO

French Participants

IP Paris Polytechnique ENSTA ENPC ENSAE Télécom Paris Télécom SudParis ISAE-Supaéro

Indian Participants

IIT Hyderabad University of Hyderabad IIT Jodhpur IIT Madras

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the team behind Simple-Playgrounds (SPG), whose initial code served as the foundation for the simulator used in this competition.