CDI-TYPE I: RUI: Emergent Hierarchies of Leaders in Multi-Robot Systems

CDI-TYPE I：RUI：多机器人系统领导者的新兴层次结构

• 批准号: 1124837
• 负责人: Brent Eskridge
• 金额: $ 15.96万
• 依托单位: Southern Nazarene University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1124837&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CDI; TYPE; RUI; Emergent; Hierarchies

The ability to use teams of robots in interesting, real-world tasks such as exploration, reconnaissance, and search and rescue depends on their ability to effectively cooperate in complex and dynamic environments. Observations from nature and personal experience show that leadership can have a significant positive impact in the coordination and performance of a team. However, current processes for selecting leaders in teams of robots are either unable to adapt to changes to team membership or require significant time and effort to do so. In contrast, research in the biological sciences has shown that systems with leaders that emerge by way of internal motivation, and not external communication, are able to adapt to changes in team membership in complex and dynamic environments. In these systems, leaders are thought of more as "initiators of action" rather than "managers" that direct other individuals.In this project, the researchers will use these insights into biological systems to investigate the motivations and mechanisms that contribute to the emergence of not only a single leader, but to the emergence of a hierarchy of leaders in a team of robots. Potential motivations and mechanisms will be evaluated in simulations of common team-based robot tasks that require cooperation and coordination of the individual robots. An understanding of the emergence process will enable roboticists to use teams of robots in tasks for which their use is currently impractical. Furthermore, this project will also increase the body of knowledge in the life sciences by providing a theoretical foundation on which further biological experiments can be based. The combination of these contributions is transformative not only for the practical impact it will have on the ability to design multi-robot systems that benefit from improved coordination and cooperation, but also for its impact on our fundamental understanding of what facilitates the emergence of organized leadership structures.

将机器人团队用于有趣的现实世界任务（如探索，侦察和搜救）的能力取决于它们在复杂和动态环境中有效合作的能力。 来自自然界和个人经验的观察表明，领导力可以对团队的协调和绩效产生重大的积极影响。 然而，目前在机器人团队中选择领导者的过程要么无法适应团队成员的变化，要么需要大量的时间和精力。 相比之下，生物科学的研究表明，通过内部激励而不是外部沟通产生领导者的系统能够适应复杂和动态环境中团队成员的变化。 在这些系统中，领导者更多地被视为“行动的发起者”，而不是指导其他个体的“管理者”。在本项目中，研究人员将利用这些对生物系统的见解，调查不仅导致出现单个领导者，而且导致出现机器人团队中领导者层级的动机和机制。 潜在的动机和机制将在模拟常见的基于团队的机器人任务，需要合作和协调的个人机器人进行评估。 对涌现过程的理解将使机器人专家能够使用机器人团队完成目前不切实际的任务。 此外，该项目还将通过提供进一步生物实验所依据的理论基础，增加生命科学的知识体系。这些贡献的结合是变革性的，不仅因为它将对设计受益于改进协调和合作的多机器人系统的能力产生实际影响，而且因为它对我们对促进有组织领导结构出现的基本理解的影响。