Hole Avoidance: Experiments in Coordinated Motion on Rough Terrain

In this paper, we study coordinated motion in a swarm robotic system, called a swarm-bot. A swarm-bot is a self-assembling and self-organizing artifact, composed of a swarm of s-bots, mobile robots with the ability to connect to and disconnect from each other. The swarm-bot concept is particularly suited for tasks that require abilities of navigation on rough terrain, such as space exploration or rescue in collapsed buildings. In fact, a swarm-bot can exploit the cooperation of its simple components to overcome difficulties or avoid hazardous situations. As a first step toward the development of more complex control strategies, we investigate the case in which a swarm-bot has to explore an arena while avoiding to fall into holes. In order to synthesize the controller for the s-bots, we rely on artificial evolution, which proved to be a powerful tool for the production of simple and effective solutions to the hole avoidance task.

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