Collective Robotic Intelligence

In this paper, we examine the problem of controlling multiple behaviour-based autonomous robots. Based on observations made from the study of social insects, we propose ve simple mechanisms used to invoke group behaviour in simple sensor-based mobile robots. The proposed mechanisms allow populations of behaviour-based robots to perform tasks without centralized control or use of explicit communication. We have veri ed our collective control strategies by designing a robot population simulator called SimbotCity. We have also constructed a system of ve homogeneous sensor-based mobile robots, capable of achieving simple collective tasks, to demonstrate the feasibility of some of the control mechanisms.