From Fireflies to Fault-Tolerant Swarms of Robots
From Fireflies to Fault-Tolerant Swarms of Robots
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DOI：
10.1109/tevc.2009.2017516
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发表时间：
2009-08-01
影响因子：
14.3
通讯作者：
Dorigo, Marco
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Christensen, Anders Lyhne;O'Grady, Rehan;Dorigo, Marco
群机器人系统的一个重要优点是冗余。如果一个机器人发生故障，另一个机器人可以采取措施修复故障机器人或接管故障机器人的任务。尽管容错性和对个体故障的鲁棒性经常是支持群体机器人系统的核心论点，但很少有研究致力于这一主题。在本文中，我们从某些种类的萤火虫中观察到的同步闪烁行为中获得灵感。我们推导了一个完全分散的算法来检测群机器人系统中的非操作机器人。每个机器人通过点亮其机载发光二极管（led）来闪烁，并且邻近的机器人被驱动同步闪烁。由于遭受灾难性故障的机器人不会周期性地闪烁，因此可以被操作机器人检测到。我们探讨了所提出的算法在现实世界的群体机器人系统和仿真中的性能。我们展示了故障机器人被正确及时地检测出来，我们展示了一个由具有模拟自我修复能力的机器人组成的系统可以在相对较高的故障率下存活下来。
One of the essential benefits of swarm robotic systems is redundancy. In case one robot breaks down, another robot can take steps to repair the failed robot or take over the failed robot's task. Although fault tolerance and robustness to individual failures have often been central arguments in favor of swarm robotic systems, few studies have been dedicated to the subject. In this paper, we take inspiration from the synchronized flashing behavior observed in some species of fireflies. We derive a completely decentralized algorithm to detect non-operational robots in a swarm robotic system. Each robot flashes by lighting up its on-board light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and neighboring robots are driven to flash in synchrony. Since robots that are suffering catastrophic failures do not flash periodically, they can be detected by operational robots. We explore the performance of the proposed algorithm both on a real-world swarm robotic system and in simulation. We show that failed robots are detected correctly and in a timely manner, and we show that a system composed of robots with simulated self-repair capabilities can survive relatively high failure rates.