Multi-robot perimeter-shaping through mediator-based swarm control

Abstract

A swarm is a group of uninformed individuals that exhibit collective behaviors. The group without any information has limited ability to achieve complex goals. Human-swarm interaction methods often allow a human to influence these uninformed individuals through either leadership or predation as informed agents that directly interact with humans. These methods of influence have two main limitations: (1) although leaders sustain influence over nominal agents for a long period of time, they tend to cause all collective structures to turn in to flocks (negating the benefit of other swarm formations) and (2) predators tend to cause collective structures to fragment. In this paper, we present the use of mediators as a novel form for human-swarm influence and use mediators to shape the perimeter of a swarm. The mediator method uses special agents that operate from within the spatial center of a swarm. This approach allows a human operator to coordinate multiple mediators to modulate a rotating torus into various shapes while sustaining influence over the swarm, avoiding fragmentation, and maintaining the swarm's connectivity. The use of mediators allows a human to mold and adapt the torus' behavior and structure to a wide range of spatio-temporal tasks such as military protection and decontamination tasks. This paper also provides the results of the experiment concerned with decontamination task that compares previous informed agent methods to the mediator-based control with regard to manageability and performance.