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A novel distributed swarm control strategy based on coupled signal oscillators

Manfred Hartbauer and Heiner Römer

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The miniaturization of microrobots is accompanied by limitations of signaling, sensing and agility. Control of a swarm of simple microrobots has to cope with such constraints in a way which still guarantees the accomplishment of a task. A recently proposed communication method, which is based on the coupling of signal oscillators of individual agents [13], may provide a basis for a distributed control of a simulated swarm of simple microrobots (similar to I-Swarm microrobots) engaged in a cleaning scenario. This self-organized communication method was biologically inspired from males of chorusing insects which are known for the rapid synchronization of their acoustic signals in a chorus. Signal oscillator properties were used to generate waves of synchronized signaling (s-waves) among a swarm of agents. In a simulation of a cleaning scenario, agents on the dump initiated concentrically spreading s-waves by shortening their intrinsic signal period. Dirt-carrying agents localized the dump by heading against the wave front. After optimization of certain control parameters the properties of this distributed control strategy were investigated in different variants of a cleaning scenario. These include a second dump, obstacles, different agent densities, agent drop-out and a second signal oscillator.


PACS

87.90.+y Other topics in biological and medical physics (restricted to new topics in section 87)

07.07.Tw Servo and control equipment; robots

85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices

43.66.Gf Detection and discrimination of sound by animals

Subjects

Electronics and devices

Instrumentation and measurement

Medical physics

Biological physics

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 3 (September 2007)

Received 16 February 2007, accepted for publication 14 August 2007

Published 10 September 2007



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