Abstract
We consider a swarm of simple ant-robots (or a(ge)nts) on the plane, which are anonymous, homogeneous, memoryless and lack communication capabilities. Their sensors are range-limited and they are unable to measure distances. Rather, they can only acquire the directions to their neighbors. We propose a simple algorithm, which makes them gather in a small region or a point. We discuss three variants of the problem: A continuous-space discrete-time problem, a continuous-time limit of that problem, and a discrete-space discrete-time analog. Using both analysis and simulations, we show that, interestingly, the system’s global behavior in the continuous-time limit is fundamentally different from that of the discrete-time case, due to hidden “Zenoness” in it.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ando, H., Oasa, Y., Suzuki, I., Yamashita, M.: A distributed memoryless point convergence algorithm for mobile robots with limited visibility. IEEE Trans. on Robotics and Automation 15(5), 818–828 (1999)
Bruckstein, M., Cohen, N., Efrat, A.: Ants, crickets and frogs in cyclic pursuit. Technical Report CIS-9105, Technion – IIT (1991)
Bruckstein, M., Mallows, C.L., Wagner, I.A.: Probabilistic pursuits on the grid. American Mathematical Monthly 104(4), 323–343 (1997)
Bruckstein, M., Zeitouni, O.: A puzzling feedback quantizer. Technical Report 879, EE Department, Technion IIT (May 1993)
The Center of Intelligent Systems, Technion IIT web site: http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/Labs/Isl/index.html
Cieliebak, M., Flocchini, P., Prencipe, G., Santoro, N.: Solving the robots gathering problem. In: Proc. of ICALP 2003 (2003)
Flocchini, P., Prencipe, G., Santoro, N., Widmayer, P.: Gathering of autonomous mobile robots with limited visibility. In: Proc. of STACS 2001 (2001)
Gordon, N., Wagner, I.A., Bruckstein, A.M.: Discrete bee dance algorithms for pattern formation on a grid. In: Proc. of IEEE Intl. Conf. on Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT 2003), pp. 545–549 (October 2003)
Henzinger, T.A.: The theory of hybrid automata. In: Proc. of LICS, pp. 278–292 (1996)
Hughes, B.D.: Random Walks and Random Environments, vol. 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1995)
Lin, Z., Broucke, M.E., Francis, B.A.: Local control strategies for groups of mobile autonomous agents. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control 49(4), 622–629 (2004)
Marshall, J.A., Broucke, M.E., Francis, B.A.: A pursuit strategy for wheeledvehicle formations. In: Proc. of CDC 2003, pp. 2555–2560 (2003)
Melhuish, C.R., Holland, O., Hoddell, S.: Convoying: using chorusing to form travelling groups of minimal agents. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 28, 207–216 (1999)
Schlude, K.: From robotics to facility location: Contraction functions, weber point, convex core. Technical Report 403, CS, ETHZ (2003)
Sugihara, K., Suzuki, I.: Distributed algorithms for formation of geometric patterns with many mobile robots. Journal of Robotic Systems 13(3), 127–139 (1996)
Suzuki, I., Yamashita, M.: Distributed anonymous mobile robots: Formation of geometric patterns. SIAM Journal on Computing 28(4), 1347–1363 (1999)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gordon, N., Wagner, I.A., Bruckstein, A.M. (2004). Gathering Multiple Robotic A(ge)nts with Limited Sensing Capabilities. In: Dorigo, M., Birattari, M., Blum, C., Gambardella, L.M., Mondada, F., Stützle, T. (eds) Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence. ANTS 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3172. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-28646-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-28646-2_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-22672-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-28646-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive