Gradient ascent with a group of minimalist real robots: implementing secondary swarming

This paper addresses and highlights some of ihe problems facing designers and those who engineer small scale robots in the future. It specijically looks at theproblem of small-scale robots ascending a gradient fieM In particular the performance of an individual, minimalist robot can be improved when a group of similarly limited robots is employe4 being a member of a collective confers benefit to the individuaL The paper describes the implementation of simulation work with a group of real ‘blimp’ robots, with a severely restricted pay104 demonstrating that spatial integrity of a group of agents around a urger can be improved when employing the mechanism of secondary swarming