Synchronized dispersion of robotic swarms using XP colonies

Abstract

Robotic swarms are multi-robot systems with no central coordination. The swarm as a whole is capable of displaying complex behaviors even if the robots are very simple and limited in sensing capabilities. The interaction between robots is only local and may also take place indirectly through the environment. The main contribution of this paper is that it demonstrates that membrane computing (XP colonies in this case) is a valid instrument for modeling and control of robots in a swarm. More, as membrane systems are parallel and distributed models, this makes the use of XP colonies to control robots in a swarm a valuable approach to the control of swarms of hundreds and thousands of robots where the parallelization of the control is a must. A case study on the synchronized dispersion of robots in a swarm is presented together with demonstration videos.