Aggregation Behaviour as a Source of Collective Decision in a Group of Cockroach-Like-Robots

Abstract

Abstract. In group-living animals, aggregation favours interactions and information exchanges between individuals, and thus allows the emergence of complex collective behaviors. In previous works, a model of a self-enhanced aggregation was deduced from experiments with the cockroach Blattella germanica. In the present work, this model was implemented in micro-robots Alice and successfully reproduced the agregation dynamics observed in a group of cockroaches. We showed that this aggregation process, based on a small set of simple behavioral rules of interaction, can be used by the group of robots to select collectively an aggregation site among two identical or different shelters. Moreover, we showed that the aggregation mechanism allows the robots as a group to "estimate" the size of each shelter during the collective decision-making process, a capacity which is not explicitly coded at the individual level.

Swarm robotics: a review from the swarm engineering perspective

“…Two consensus achievement behaviors are proposed: in the first, the robots simply follow the robot closest to a target, resulting in a decision based on the spatial distribution of the swarm; in the second, the robots vote, using a majority rule, to decide which target to follow. Garnier et al (2005Garnier et al ( , 2009) studied consensus achievement in cockroaches by using a swarm of robots to replicate the experiment by Amé et al (2006) (see Fig. 12(a)).…”

“…Results Garnier et al (2005) developed a system in which robots are used to replicate the behavior observed in cockroaches by Jeanson et al (2005). The robots are able to collectively aggregate in a circular arena using a PFSM approach.…”

An Introduction to Swarm Robotics

“…ey analyse mathematically its convergence and carry out simulated experiments with nine robots. Lastly, Garnier et al [34] implement a biological model based on cockroach aggregation on Alice robots.…”

Robustness of Market-Based Task Allocation in a Distributed Satellite System

“…Alternatively, the multi-satellite system can be abstracted as a distributed computing network, where tasks need to be efficiently allocated to different nodes. Natural systems have provided useful metaphors for obtaining desired emergent behaviours in multi-robot contexts; for example, aggregations of robots through mimicking cockroaches [5], and divisions of labour [6] and foraging strategies [7] inspired by social insects. From the distributed computing perspective marketplaces have been popular mechanisms for allocating tasks in a distributed fashion.…”