Cooperative hole avoidance in a swarm-bot

In this paper, we study coordinated motion in a swarm robotic system, called a swarm-bot. A swarm-bot is a self-assembling and self-organising artifact, composed of a swarm of s-bots, mobile robots with the ability to connect to and disconnect from each other. The swarm-bot concept is particularly suited for tasks that require all-terrain navigation abilities, such as space exploration or rescue in collapsed buildings. As a first step toward the development of more complex control strategies, we investigate the case in which a swarm-bot has to explore an arena while avoiding falling into holes. In such a scenario, individual s-bots have sensory–motor limitations that prevent them navigating efficiently. These limitations can be overcome if the s-bots are made to cooperate. In particular, we exploit the s-bots’ ability to physically connect to each other. In order to synthesise the s-bots’ controller, we rely on artificial evolution, which we show to be a powerful tool for the production of simple and effective solutions to the hole avoidance task.