Emergence of burden sharing by robots equipped with an emotional model

Abstract

Abstract Cooperative multirobot systems are much superior to single‐robot systems. They are able to adapt to various circumstances and they exhibit flexibility of response to various task requests. For effective functioning of a multirobot system, the robots must develop appropriate coordination and organization. In this context we consider the group behavior of insects, which lack advanced individual capabilities. For instance, ants and bees, which are considered social insects, use very simple means of communication such as pheromones or dance movements to perform systematic activities by interaction. The ants have evolved chemical communication, but humans have learned to communicate with words and gestures. In this study, a human emotion model based on psychological interaction was adapted to a multirobot system to achieve methods for organization of multiple robots. This study evaluates the behavior of real robots when this algorithm is used. Specifically the robots move back and forth on a test field with or without an obstacle. Despite the simple experimental design, the results indicate the occurrence of burden sharing which would be impossible with a centralized control system. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 91(1): 52–58, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10020