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Project TANGO (TAngible iNterface through GAMA Orchestration) has been accepted for funding under the 2026 UMMISCO call for projects, a program supporting innovative research, interdisciplinary studies, and scientific outreach. The project is based at the ACROSS Laboratory in Hanoi and will run from June 2026 to March 2027.

Bridging the Digital and the Tangible

Agent-based models (ABMs) typically represent entities as digital objects displayed on a screen. While highly effective, traditional displays can sometimes limit our spatial intuition. Project TANGO is an exploratory research initiative that seeks to transform these virtual agents within the GAMA simulation engine into physical, mobile robots.

By replacing virtual agents with physical robots on a 3D model, we can better understand complex phenomena through direct, tangible visualization. This method is particularly promising for:

  • Testing urban emergency evacuation scenarios.
  • Optimizing the logistics of autonomous vehicle fleets.
  • Simulating coordinated interventions of service robots in disaster zones.

A low-cost, open-source architecture

The project is led by Dr Arthur Brugière and Baptiste Lesquoy. In line with the lab’s commitment to reproducible and accessible research, TANGO is built on a low-cost, open-source foundation. The planned deliverables include:

  • Open Hardware: 3D-printed, highly customizable, and documented modular robot designs.
  • Open Source Architecture: A generic connector between GAMA and the physical robots, allowing seamless orchestration without requiring complex robotics expertise from the user.
  • Synchronization: An environment designed to minimize latency and correct errors, ensuring perfect alignment between the digital model and physical reality.

Expected Outputs

By the end of the project cycle (March 2027), the team expects to deliver a fully documented and functional prototype, an open-access framework  including CAD files and source code made available for community reuse, and a paper submitted to an international conference.

More on TANGO project: 

Resources: https://github.com/TANGO-projet 

Website: https://tango-projet.github.io/