Swarm is the open arena that settles it. Anyone can train a drone pilot, submit it, and watch it compete on a public leaderboard across thousands of fresh worlds it has never seen.
SN 124. Rank 25 of 32 by emission
Swarm
Emission1.2%of the block reward · rank 25 of 32
Participants25 miners · 10 validators
Registration0.5 TAO
Verified2026-09-09links checked and scores merged
The programtraining · github.com@fce8d30 · read 2026-09-19
The work
A trained flight policy for a simulated Crazyflie quadcopter: a model that reads a depth camera and the drone's state and outputs control, packaged as an archive. The miner commits the archive's digest on chain, uploads it to the Swarm backend, and exits. Five mission families are active; a model that never wins stays in the backend's vault and is never published.
own docs · raw.githubusercontent.com
Anyone can train a drone pilot, submit it, and watch it compete on a public leaderboard across thousands of fresh worlds it has never seen.
How it is scored
Every validator flies each submitted policy through the same 1,000 secret seeds per family per epoch and scores each flight 0.45 for reaching the goal, 0.45 for time against a target with a 6 percent buffer, 0.10 for obstacle clearance, clamped to 0 to 1; a crash, tilt, timeout or infeasible run scores 0.01. The seed key is published after the epoch so anyone can rebuild the worlds.
code · raw.githubusercontent.com · swarm/validator/reward.py
score = 0.45 * success_term + 0.45 * time_term + 0.10 * safety_term; PARTICIPATION_REWARD = 0.01
How the pay splits
King of the hill per family, not winner take all. Each family holds a fixed slice: Office Interceptor 30 percent, Swarm Autopilot 20, Swarm Search and Rescue 20, Autopilot 15, Search and Rescue 15. Within a family the last five crowned kings share the slice on a ladder, each older seat keeping 0.7 of the seat above, scaled up to 1.3 by improvement. An empty slice burns to UID 0.
code · raw.githubusercontent.com · swarm/validator/koth.py
WINDOW_SIZE: int = 5; RESERVED_BURN_UID: int = 0; RANK_LADDER_RATIO: float = 0.7; GAIN_BONUS: float = 0.3; GAIN_BONUS_CAP: float = 1.0
Who judges
Ten validators were active on the 2026-09-09 chain snapshot. Commit-reveal is on; weights may be set once per 100 blocks. Each validator runs the full 1,000-seed benchmark itself, generating its own seeds with the system random source and publishing them after the epoch; it then refreshes the king windows from the backend, recomputes the ladder weights locally, and sets them on chain.
chain · hyperparams-2026-09-19.json
commit_reveal_weights_enabled True, weights_rate_limit 100, max_validators 64; chain-2026-09-09.json active_validators 10
How often it turns
Emission settles every 360 blocks, about 72 minutes. The benchmark epoch is 14 days from epoch 19, anchored Monday 16:00 UTC, with 1,000 fresh seeds per family; submissions freeze for the final 5,400 seconds, 1.5 hours, of each epoch. A crown turns whenever a challenger clears the floor, and every champion is re-evaluated on the new epoch's seeds. A new registration is immune for 5,000 blocks.
chain · hyperparams-2026-09-19.json
tempo 360, immunity_period 5000; constants.py EPOCH_DURATION_LONG_SECONDS = 14 * 86400, EPOCH_FREEZE_SECONDS = 5400
Who buys
Nobody is named. The site calls Swarm the lab for autonomous drone AI, lists sectors from warehouses to defence, and offers model adapters for airframes and sensors, but names no customer, price, endpoint or way to buy; the way in is a contact form. No pricing page, API reference or customer statement was found on the site or in the repository.
our reading · swarm124.com
Our open benchmark accelerates model development, while our physical lab turns leading flight policies into deployable, end-to-end systems.
What has been gamed
Copycat models are the named problem: under winner take all a miner could clone the champion, add noise to clear the floor, and take everything. The answer is the five-king ladder, a crowning floor of 0.015 that decays to 0.005 as scores near 1.0, refusal at upload of an archive whose code and weights match an existing submission, secret seeds while the epoch runs, and a fresh hotkey per crowning.
own docs · raw.githubusercontent.com
a miner can clone the current champion, add just enough noise to clear the crowning floor, and take 100% of emissions
4 of 7 fields rest on the chain or the code. A manifest is the site's reading of the subnet's program, not a review; each field links its source. All programs · What a field means · Correct a field
What it says
The subnet in its own words: the line the index took from its front door, and what the team has said on the record.
What it shows
Explained from zero by the index, from the subnet's own materials, for someone who has never heard of Bittensor.
SN124 Swarm is a pilot's exam for drone-flying software, where the course is redrawn every two weeks so nothing can be memorized, and the best pilot in each event holds the title until someone flies better.
The commodity, explained from zero
The README opens plainly: "Drones are moving into everyday life: delivering packages, inspecting bridges and power lines, searching for survivors after a disaster." Swarm's commodity is that software: a trained flight policy, a file that reads a single depth camera and the drone's position and speed and decides, fifty times a second, where to go, with "no map, no GPS, no list of obstacles."
The policy is trained and tested in a simulator of a Crazyflie, a small research quadcopter. There are five events, each with its own champion and share of the pay: Office Interceptor (30 percent), Swarm Autopilot (20), Swarm Search and Rescue (20), Autopilot (15), and Search and Rescue (15). Every fourteen days the simulator generates 1,100 fresh worlds.
Who pays: nobody yet, in the materials. The site calls itself "the lab for autonomous drone AI," and, rendered with JavaScript, lists sectors such as defence, search and rescue, and agriculture and promises "Model adapters for your airframes, sensors, and constraints," but names no customer, price, or way to buy. Here the comparison breaks: a pilot who passes keeps the licence, while a Swarm champion is dethroned the moment someone flies better.
Why it is on Bittensor at all
The README's argument is comparison in the open: "today that AI is built behind closed doors, where no one can compare it or prove whose is best." An open arena with unseen worlds and a public leaderboard lets anyone check the claim. What the network changes is who can enter and who can see the scores; cost and coverage are not claimed.
How the work gets done
Miners train a policy by whatever method they like, on any hardware; the miner process itself needs only 3 cores and 8 GB of RAM and "commits your model's digest on-chain, uploads the archive to the Swarm backend, and exits." Validators fly each policy through the fresh worlds and score it: 0.45 for landing successfully, 0.45 for time, 0.10 for safety, with a failed run scoring 0.01. A new champion must beat the old one by at least 0.015, a floor that shrinks toward 0.005 as scores approach perfect, so a copy with a tiny tweak earns only a tiny share. Each event's emission, its slice of newly minted TAO, is split across "its last five crowned kings," each older seat holding 70 percent of the seat above it.
How you would know it works
The benchmark page at https://swarm124.com/benchmark is the artifact, but it renders only with JavaScript; the index's fetch on 2026-09-09 saw champion scores per event and one event crowned on 2026-08-21.
What is missing
The chain identity is 4 of 7: no description, no Discord, no additional field, and the URL is set without a scheme. The contact admin@swarm124.com appears nowhere on the site or in the repository. There is no API reference, no pricing, and the only documentation is for miners. There are no GitHub releases.
Go deeper
- README with plain explanation: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/README.md
- Miner guide with scoring formula: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/miner/docs/miner.md
- King of the Hill document: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/docs/king_of_the_hill.md
Sources for this explainer
- https://swarm124.com/
- https://swarm124.com/benchmark
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/README.md
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/miner/docs/miner.md
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/docs/king_of_the_hill.md
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swarm-subnet/swarm/main/docs/families/autopilot.md
Metaphor: a pilot's exam where the course is redrawn every two weeks. Every claim is drawn from the evidence set or the subnet's own materials; "(inferred)" marks a conclusion rather than a quote. Corrections.
How legible it is
Four audiences, four questions each, rated on what a first-time reader can find in five minutes. The scale measures findability, not quality.
On-chain identity 4/7- subnet_name
- Swarm
- github_repo
- github.com
- subnet_contact
- admin@swarm124.com
- subnet_url
- www.swarm124.com
- discord
- not set
- description
- not set
- additional
- not set
Stakers and validators●●●●● 3.0
Should I allocate here? · rank 18 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 3
Anyone can train a drone pilot, submit it, and watch it compete on a public leaderboard across thousands of fresh worlds
output is flight policies, the site sells lab services, no unit or price
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 3
ACTIVE 5 OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
with champion scores per family and one completed family crowned Aug 21 2026, no customers, the front page lists sectors and a partner deck but no names or revenue
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 4
named King of the Hill document one click from the README with a Why it exists section on copycat models, a dynamic floor, eligibility and edge cases, needs Bittensor knowledge, no failure modes
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 2
identity 4 of 7, description, discord and additional not set, url has no scheme but resolves, github resolves, contact admin@swarm124.com not on the site, no staker page
Miners●●●●● 4.3
Can I compete, and what wins? · rank 2 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 5
Fly a Crazyflie across a procedurally generated world, find the landing pad inside a noisy search area, and touch down clean
observation and action tables with shapes and ranges, template agent
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 4
The miner process is lightweight
min_compute.yml gives 3 cores, 8 GB RAM, no GPU, score to beat per family on the benchmark page, floor 0.015, registration cost not stated (chain burn 0.5 TAO)
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 4
score = 0.45 success + 0.45 time + 0.10 safety with a table, failures score 0.01, floor 0.015 decaying to 0.005, five kings paid with a 70 percent taper, no immunity or deregistration policy
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 4
miner guide with install scripts, a seven step workflow and a support section, repo pushed 2026-09-09, no GitHub releases or changelog, the CLI docs say the PyPI release may lag the repo
Buyers and enterprises●●●●● 2.0
Can I use this today? · rank 20 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 2
Model adapters for your airframes, sensors, and constraints, with drop-in SDKs and APIs
is marketing copy with no endpoint, app or example, the way in is a partner deck link
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 3
DEFENSE & SECURITY
"SEARCH & RESCUE" "PRECISION AGRICULTURE" and four more sectors named on the front page, no pricing anywhere
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 2
support is Discord with two named handles and GitHub issues, no status page, SLA or response expectation
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 1
no API reference, the only docs are the miner and CLI guides, the chain contact admin@swarm124.com appears nowhere on the site or in the README
Newcomers●●●●● 3.8
What is this and why does it matter? · rank 9 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 4
Drones are moving into everyday life: delivering packages, inspecting bridges and power lines, searching for survivors after a disaster.
plain README paragraph, one line on the site
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 4
today that AI is built behind closed doors, where no one can compare it or prove whose is best
open comparison with fresh unseen worlds versus closed development, no cost or coverage number
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 4
live benchmark with champion scores per family and a completed family crowned Aug 21 2026, mission videos in the README, a 95.34 percent success claim on the site, active scores undated
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 3
subnet_name Swarm matches the site, url resolves after adding a scheme, description not set on chain, the front page Why Swarm section is the only about text
Provenance
How this rating came to be. Verified means the scorer fetched the page and the words are on it; secondhand means concluded from code, absence, or a third party. The link badge is a separate automated check made before publication.
scored by agent a 2026-09-09, rubric v1.0merged 2026-09-09links verified 2026-09-09: 38 live, 0 unreachable, 1 manual
Something wrong? Corrections of fact are applied as they arrive during the window; rating disputes are batched at its close. How to file one · GitHub issue · email.