Integrating Blockchain for Enhanced Coordination and Security in Semi-Centralized Robotic Swarms

Abstract

Swarm robotics is a field that studies the design and coordination of large groups of robots that can perform complex tasks through collective behaviors. One of the challenges in swarm robotics is to find the optimal balance between decentralization and centralization, as each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, we propose a semi-centralized framework that integrates blockchain technology for enhanced coordination and security in swarm robotic systems. Our framework uses a centralized control unit that serves as a coordination hub for the robotic swarm while also leveraging blockchain technology to provide a secure and distributed ledger for data storage and communication. Thus, blockchain technology mitigates the reduced resilience, which is the price to pay for introducing semi-centralized control in robotic swarms, by ensuring the distributed management of data and programs. In the paper, we exemplify the application of our semi-centralized framework to optimize a path-finding problem for a swarm of robots. We also characterize a series of levels in allocating the blockchain infrastructure to cope with the corresponding levels of security threats.