A cooperative architecture based on social insects

A cooperative architecture based on social insects

In the last two decades, cooperative robotic groups have advanced rapidly; beginning with simple, almost blind box pushing tasks and advancing to the complexity of robocup's autonomous soccer matches. Groups of machines have been employed to build structures, search for targets, mimic insects and enact complex formations with precision and aplomb. The complexity of the tasks accomplished have been both impressive and practical, clearly illustrating the potential power of robotic groups and demonstrating how they may be applied to solve real-world problems.

Building on this success, we have created a software architecture that was intended to remove the robotic agents' dependency on complex communications or detailed task specific information.

By incorporating biological models of stigmergic social insect cooperation into the architecture, we aim to ensure that the robots will be able to cooperate implicitly, without regard to group size and with only a weak dependency on task specific information and group homogeneity. We have conducted preliminary investigations into the design's feasibility by using computer simulations of a simple object passing task. This simple task has enabled us to establish that cooperation is possible using this system. This paper will discuss the system's origins, design and future expansion.

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