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On Fault Tolerance and Scalability of Swarm Robotic Systems

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 83))

Abstract

This paper challenges the common assumption that swarm robotic systems are robust and scalable by default. We present an analysis based on both reliability modelling and experimental trials of a case study swarm performing team work, in which failures are deliberately induced. Our case study has been carefully chosen to represent a swarm task in which the overall desired system behaviour is an emergent property of the interactions between robots, in order that we can assess the fault tolerance of a self-organising system. Our findings show that in the presence of worst-case partially failed robots the overall system reliability quickly falls with increasing swarm size. We conclude that future large scale swarm systems will need a new approach to achieving high levels of fault tolerance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Jan Dyre Bjerknes & Alan F. T. Winfield

Authors
  1. Jan Dyre Bjerknes
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  2. Alan F. T. Winfield
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Dyre Bjerknes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. EPFL ENAC IIE DISAL, Station 2, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

    Alcherio Martinoli

  2. EPFL STI IMT LSRO, Station 9, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

    Francesco Mondada

  3. 430 UCB, Engineering Drive 1111, Boulder, 80309, Colorado, USA

    Nikolaus Correll

  4. EPFL ENAC IIE DISAL, Station 2, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

    Grégory Mermoud

  5. , Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332, Georgia, USA

    Magnus Egerstedt

  6. , Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Drexel University, Randell 115, Chestnut St. 3141, Philadelphia, 19104, Pennsylvania, USA

    M. Ani Hsieh

  7. , Department of Electrical Engineering and, University of Tennessee, Middle Drive 1520, Knoxville, 37996, Tennessee, USA

    Lynne E. Parker

  8. Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, Odense, 5230, Denmark

    Kasper Støy

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Bjerknes, J.D., Winfield, A.F.T. (2013). On Fault Tolerance and Scalability of Swarm Robotic Systems. In: Martinoli, A., et al. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 83. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32723-0_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32723-0_31

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-32722-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-32723-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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