BRIGE: Developing a model of collective behavior in bat swarms using acoustic communication and applications in robotic systems

技术描述：这项扩大参与的工程学研究启动拨款(Brige)为研究多智能体系统中的协调提供资金，该系统具有受回声定位启发的主动传感。这项工作将使工程系统的设计成为可能，在工程系统中，移动传感单元将成对和广播通信合成为一个未开发的集团级决策方案。蝙蝠利用回声定位进行群体定位，基于其独特的传感能力，将被作为模型系统。这个建模框架将包括主动感知的建设性和破坏性结果，这在文献中是一个尚未解决的问题。研究问题将集中在多代理系统模型的概念上，该模型使用主动感知来增加协调，从群体行为中获得能量优势，并避免同行之间的破坏性干扰。这些通信策略对信息共享的影响将从基于代理的建模和基于网络的动态交互拓扑上的协调算法的角度来探讨。该模型将通过对野生蝙蝠群的实验观察来验证，结果将转化为感应式移动机器人的实验，该机器人旨在模仿和编码蝙蝠群下面的主动声学通信。更广泛的意义和重要性：由许多单元组成的系统--例如在大篷车上驾驶的自动驾驶汽车、通过网络进行通信的计算机，或者团队中监测洋流的水下滑翔机--在工程中无处不在。因此，跨学科的工程师面临着挑战，需要发现如何协调这些系统中的单元，以实现团队更大的目标？S。这种大规模的协调任务本质上是由表现出集体行为的动物群体很好地执行的，例如鱼群和鸟群。这个Brige项目的目标是在一个配备了新型通信的单元系统中建立协调模型，灵感来自蝙蝠的回声定位，其中与环境的互动是通过主动传感实现的，而不是像视觉这样的被动传感。我们将使用这个模型的结果来为专业机器人团队的算法提供信息，并将我们的结果与野生蝙蝠群进行比较。Brige项目的结果可能会导致通过捕捉这些独特动物群体的显著方面来设计具有许多单元的系统的新方法。扩大未被充分代表的群体在工程中的参与：研究努力将转化为扩大参与活动，向K-12学生介绍工程系统中普遍存在的协调概念。少年派会创造一个女孩吗？机器人团队，由女本科生指导，参加一年一度的乐高机器人大赛。参与者将接受评估，以确定该活动是否与STEM学业成绩的变化有关。当地的一个自然中心也将成为一个论坛，为公众设计和提供蝙蝠启发的机器人工程活动，这将利用该项目-S在工程学和生物学的界面上进行研究，以吸引年轻参与者参与生物启发的设计。该项目将通过针对女孩的机器人活动和自然中心的项目，扩大未被充分代表的群体对工程的参与。该项目旨在让儿童对自然和保护感兴趣。这项研究的资金来自工程教育和中心分部扩大参与工程项目的扩大参与研究启动补助金。

Technical Description: This Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering (BRIGE) provides funding to study coordination in multi-agent systems with active sensing inspired by echolocation. This work will enable the design of engineering systems in which mobile sensing units synthesize pairwise and broadcast communication towards an untapped group-level decision-making scheme. Bats, which use echolocation to swarm, will be taken as a model system based on their unique sensing capabilities. This modeling framework will include constructive and destructive outcomes of active sensing, which is an untapped problem in the literature. Research questions will center on the notion of a multi-agent system model that uses active sensing to increase coordination, gains energetic advantages from group behavior, and avoids destructive interference between peers. The effect of such communication strategies on information sharing will be explored from the perspective of agent-based modeling and network-based algorithms for coordination over dynamic interaction topologies. The model will be validated using experimental observations on wild bat swarms and results will be translated to experiments on sensorized mobile robots designed to mimic and encode active acoustic communication underlying bat swarms. Broader Significance and Importance: Systems comprising many units- such as autonomous cars driving in a caravan, computers communicating over a network, or underwater gliders monitoring ocean currents in a team- are pervasive in engineering. As a result, engineers across disciplines are challenged to discover how to coordinate units in these systems to achieve the team?s larger goal. Such large-scale coordination tasks are well executed in nature by animal groups exhibiting collective behavior, such as fish schools and bird flocks. This BRIGE project aims to model coordination in a system of units equipped with a novel type of communication, inspired by echolocation in bats, where interaction with the environment is achieved using active sensing, rather than passive sensing such as vision. We will use the outcomes of this model to inform algorithms for teams of specialized robots and we will compare our results to wild bat swarms. The results of this BRIGE project will potentially lead to new ways to engineer systems with many units by capturing salient aspects of these unique animal groups.Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Groups in Engineering:Research efforts will be translated to broadening participation activities introducing K-12 students to the ubiquitous concept of coordination in engineered systems. The PI will create a girls? robotics team, mentored by female undergraduate students, to participate in annual LEGO robotics competitions. Participants will be assessed to determine if the activity correlates with changes in academic STEM performance. A local nature center will also be a forum to design and deliver engineering activities for the public on bat-inspired robotics, which will capitalize on the project?s research at the interface of engineering and biology to engage young participants in biologically-inspired design. The project will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering through both the robotics activity, which is aimed at girls, and through the program at the nature center, which seeks to engage children with interests in nature and conservation.This research has been funded through the Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering solicitation, which is part of the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program of the Engineering Education and Centers Division.