"A Strategy Of Self-organization For Cellular Robotic System (CEBOT)"

Abstract

Cellular Robotic SystemCEB0T has been studied to realize a dynamically r econfigurable r obotic system, which can c arry out m any kind of tasks under various environments by the authors. CEBOT consists of a lot of units called cell which has a simple function. To deal with a complex task which can not be carried out by a cell, CEBOT generates various module ,which is composed of some cells. A much complex 5ystem composed of some modules is called structure, which can carry out very complicated tasks. As above mentioned concepts, CEBOT is very similar to a living creature, because tissues and organs are formed by a lot of cells. CEBOT h as to not only create new modules and structures, but also kill some modules and structures, because the number of cells is limited. Therefore it is necessary to study a system which can create and kill new group composed of many units of the system. In this paper, We propose a strategy of self-organization. We call the strategy an Genetic Cell Production Algorithm (GCPA). The GCPA is based on the Genetic Algorithms, which are search algorithms based on the mechanics of natural se1ectiol.r and n atural genetics. We also propose a estimation method for the distributed system, which can be described by relations among subsystems. To simulate the self-organization based on the GCPA, we designed a distributed s ystem, which has a hierarchical cell-structure based on the concept of CEBOT. By using the model of a distributed system, some simulational results and analysis are reported in this paper, to verify the efficiency of the GCPA.