Swarming robots-foraging behavior of simple multirobot system

Abstract

Research of multirobot systems is active in these days. The most remarkable characteristic of multirobot system is that the robots work cooperatively and achieve the task which a single robot cannot do. This characteristic is important and it is essential to investigate an effect of number of robots in the system. There are some tasks which art! suitable for multirobot system and we chose foraging task. A robot used in this paper has a simple interaction method with a light signal. In this paper, we discuss their behavior in a field that has one feeding point at first. Their behavior is analyzed by a robot simulation and a mathematical model. Next, we discuss a performance of the system in a clockface arranged foraging field, in which some localized foods are located equidistant from the home. Here, we report the group shows an ordered behavior depending on the number of robots and the strength of the interaction.