Whistling in the Dark: Cooperative Trail Following in Uncertain Localization Space

Abstract

We demonstrate that a simulated group of robots can cooperate to robustly transport resource between two areas through an unknown environment using an algorithm inspired by the trail following of ants and the waggle dance of honey bees. Rather than directly marking their environment, the robots announce their successful paths through a common localization space. It is found that the algorithm is robust to signicant localization error, suggesting that the method will be viable for teams of real robots. 1 Introduction and related work Ants form supply columns to relocate valuable items through complex, dynamic environments. Their remarkable eectiveness is due to a highly robust strategy of local interactions among a large number of autonomous agents. The chemical trails formed by ants along their supply routes are robust with respect to changes in the environment and to the `failure' of many individual ants [Holldopler and Wilson, 1990, Richards, 1970]. These properties are attractiv...