ScaFi-Blocks: A Visual Aggregate Programming Environment for Low-Code Swarm Design

Swarm programming is focused on the design and implementation of algorithms for large-scale systems, such as fleets of robots, ensembles of IoT devices, and sensor networks. Writing algorithms for these systems requires skills and familiarity with programming languages, which can be a barrier for non-expert users. Even if visual programming environments have been proposed for swarm systems, they are often limited to specific platforms or tasks, and do not provide a high-level programming model that can be used to design algorithms for a wide range of swarm systems. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a low-code swarm programming environment, called ScaFi-Blocks, which allows users to design and implement swarm algorithms visually. ScaFi-Blocks is based on the ScaFi aggregate computing framework, which provides a high-level programming model for the design of distributed algorithms. Aggregate computing is based on the concept of field-based coordination, and it allows users to design algorithms by composing simple building blocks, which motivates the design of the proposed artefact. The environment is designed to be user-friendly and to support the design of a wide range of collective applications. In this paper, we present the architecture of ScaFi-Blocks, discuss its features and capabilities, and provide a preliminary evaluation of the programming environment based on a case study featuring articulated swarm behaviour.