Swarm Robotics Algorithms: A Survey

Swarm robotics is a relatively new field that focuses on controlling large-scale homogeneous multi-robot systems. We survey six example swarm robotics control algorithms to give a brief overview of the current state of the cutting-edge. Experimental results show that swarm robotics algorithms are scalable, fault tolerant, robust and efficient. These favorable results stem from the algorithms being distributed, being decentralized and depending solely on local interactions. Most algorithms surveyed in this paper were implemented for the iRobot Swarm or the Swarmbots Project and background for both of these projects is given. We conclude with directions that swarm robotics research should continue onto next and possible future work.