SwarmDAG: A Partition Tolerant Distributed Ledger Protocol for Swarm Robotics

Abstract

Blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt applications beyond cryptocurrencies. This work applies the concepts of blockchain technology to swarm robotics applications. Swarm robots typically operate in a distributed fashion, wherein the collaboration and coordination between the robots are essential to accomplishing the application goals. However, robot swarms may experience network partitions either due to navigational and communication challenges or in order to perform certain tasks efficiently. We propose a novel protocol, SwarmDAG, that enables the maintenance of a distributed ledger based on the concept of extended virtual synchrony while managing and tolerating network partitions.

Editorial: Proceedings of the First Symposium on Blockchain and Robotics, MIT Media Lab, 5 December 2018

“…1 Achieving more secure, verifiable, and reliable robot systems seems a pressing issue among the authors. [3][4][5][6] It is expected that this trend will grow in the upcoming years. However, there is research already analyzing the impact of this combination in challenging scenarios such as cities, 7 social media, 8 or even outer space.…”

“…In Tran et al, blockchain technology is combined with swarm robotics systems. 4 The authors describe how robot swarms may experience network partitions either due to navigational and communication challenges or in order to perform certain tasks efficiently. In response to this, the paper proposes a novel protocol, SwarmDAG, that enables the maintenance of a distributed ledger based on the concept of extended virtual synchrony while managing and tolerating network partitions.…”

Blockchain-Empowered Multi-Robot Collaboration to Fight COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

“…The system includes Parrot AR Drone 2.0 and Parrot Jumping Night ground drones. In [58], the authors propose a partition tolerant distributed ledger protocol for swarm robotics named SwarmDAG. SwarmDAG uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structured distributed ledger to enable robot swarms to achieve eventual consistency.…”

“…The protocol was developed based on designing an embedded system with considering options and trade-offs for implementing blockchain. Furthermore, blockchain was integrated with swarm robotics communication to avoid network partitions due to communication channels or robot navigation in an experiential environment to perform tasks efficiently [58]. SwarmDAG enabled the management of network partitions and maintained a distributed ledger.…”

Towards a Blockchain-Based Multi-UAV Surveillance System

“…Integrating blockchains into mobile devices could lead to network partitions which are not usual in traditional blockchains, mainly relying on wired networks. Tran et al ( 2019 ) focused on the problems arising from swarms' partitions. In order to archive stable partitions, the SwarmDAG protocol was proposed to correctly manage the splits and merges of the network during the partitions.…”