Abstract
In this paper we present an experimental setup to model the pheromone trail based foraging behaviour of ants using a special phosphorescent glowing paint. We have built two custom addons for the e-puck robot that allow for trail laying and following on the glowing floor, as well as a way for the robots to mimic the ants capability of using polarization patterns as a means of navigation. Using simulations we show that our approach allows for efficient pathfinding between nest and potential food sources. Experimental results show that our trail and sun compass add-on boards are accurate enough to allow a single robot to lay and follow a trail repeatedly.
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Mayet, R., Roberz, J., Schmickl, T., Crailsheim, K. (2010). Antbots: A Feasible Visual Emulation of Pheromone Trails for Swarm Robots. In: Dorigo, M., et al. Swarm Intelligence. ANTS 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6234. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15461-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15461-4_8
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