The Effect of Mobile Robot on Group Behavior of Animal

Abstract

This paper observes the effect of a mobile robot on the group behavior of soldier crabs. The mobile robot interacts with eight soldier crabs. For the experimental analysis, this paper adopts four settings. In the first setting, eight soldier crabs are placed in an experiment area without the presence of the robot. In the second, third, and fourth settings, eight soldier crabs are placed in an experiment area with, respectively, a stationary robot, a continuously moving robot, and an intermittently moving robot. These experimental results are analyzed using a fluctuation index. From analysis, it was found that the fluctuation slope for the fourth experiment alone differs from that for other experiments. This result suggests that the intermittently moving robot influences the group behavior of soldier crabs.