K. Sugawara

About

K. Sugawara is a pioneering researcher in swarm robotics and multi-robot systems, whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how simple, interacting agents can achieve complex collective behaviors. His research focuses on biologically inspired robotics, particularly drawing from insect societies to develop decentralized coordination mechanisms. Sugawara's most significant contribution is his groundbreaking work on foraging behavior in multi-robot systems using virtual pheromones (88 citations), which demonstrated how robots can communicate indirectly through environmental modifications, mimicking ant colonies. He has systematically investigated how simple interaction rules can give rise to swarm intelligence, showing that task performance scales with group size in predictable ways. His work on proportion regulation in task allocation systems (9 citations) has provided mathematical frameworks for achieving division of labor among identical robots, while his studies on swarming robots have explored the emergence of collective motion patterns. Across his career, Sugawara has accumulated over 175 citations for his foundational work, establishing key principles for designing scalable, robust multi-robot systems that operate without centralized control. His research continues to influence modern swarm robotics, particularly in applications requiring distributed sensing, collective transport, and adaptive task allocation.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Foraging behavior of interacting robots with virtual pheromone

   88 citations · 2005
2. 2
   Swarming robots-foraging behavior of simple multirobot system

   30 citations · 2003
3. 3
   Cooperative behavior of interacting robots

   23 citations · 1998
4. 4
   Proportion Regulation in Task Allocation Systems

   9 citations · 2006
5. 5
   Foraging behaviour of multi-robot system and emergence of swarm intelligence

   7 citations · 2003
6. 6
   A study on foraging behavior of simple multi-robot system

   6 citations · 2003
7. 7
   A scaling law between the number of multirobots and their task performance

   5 citations · 1999
8. 8
   Swarming robots - collective behavior of interacting robots

   5 citations · 2003
9. 9
   Proportion regulation for division of labor in multi-robot system

   3 citations · 2005
10. 10
    A study on biologically inspired flocking robots

    3 citations · 2004

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links