A Randomized Gathering Algorithm for Multiple Robots with Limited Sensing Capabilities

Abstract

Consider a swarm of weak, anonymous and homogeneous robots lacking memory, orientation, and communication capabilities, and having myopic sensors that tell them the directions to nearby robots, but not the distance from them. We present a simple randomized algorithm which, when performed by all members of the swarm, gathers them in a small region. We explore the interesting global phenomena that occur during the process, evident from our analysis and simulations.