Abstract
This paper describes a set of tools developed at our laboratory that provide a reliable set-up for conducting bio-inspired experiments with real robots. We focus on the hardware tools needed to monitor team performances as well as those to achieve collective adaptive behaviours. We propose concrete solutions to some of the main problems in collective robotics. The four main results we derive are: first, the hardware modularity of the miniature robot Khepera [1] allows us to build a flexible set-up; second, the energy autonomy problem is solved in a reliable way for experimenting with real robots during several hours; third, the communication architecture among teammates and/or with a supervisor unit is designed to prevent bandwidth bottlenecks with bigger robot teams; fourth, the use of programmable active pucks (also called “seeds” below) extends the set of possible bio-inspired experiments without increasing the sensorial complexity of the robots. A simple bio-inspired collective experiment, the gathering and clustering of randomly distributed passive seeds, is presented as an example as well as a test-bed for the extended autonomy tool. The results are compared with those reported in [2, 3].
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
F. Mondada, E. Franzi, and P. Ienne. Mobile robot miniaturization: A tool for investigation in control algorithms. In Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Experimental Robotics ISER-93, pages 501–513, Kyoto, Japan, 1993.
A. Martinoli and F. Mondada. Collective and cooperative group behaviours: Biologically inspired experiments in robotics. In O. Khatib and J. K. Salisbury, editors, Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Experimental Robotics ISER-95, pages 3–10, Stanford, U.S.A., June 1995. Springer Verlag.
A. Martinoli, M. Yamamoto, and F. Mondada. On the modelling of bioinspired collective experiments with real robots. In Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Artificial Life ECAL-97, Brighton, UK, July 1997. http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/eca197/present.html.
J. C. Deneubourg, P. S. Clip, and S. S. Camazine. Ants, buses and robots self-organization of transportation systems. In P. Gaussier and J-D. Nicoud, editors, Proceedings of the conference From Perception to Action, pages 12–23. IEEE Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 1994.
N. Franceschini, J.-M. Pichon, and C. Blanes. Real time visuomotor control: From flies to robots. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Advanced Robotics, pages 91–95, Pisa, June 1991.
D. Floreano and Mondada F. Evolution of homing navigation in a real mobile robot. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 26:396–407, June 1996.
E. G. Bonabeau and Theraulaz G. Intelligence Collective. Hermès, Paris, France, 1994.
Millan J. del R. Reinforcement learning of goal-directed obstacle-avoiding reaction strategies in an autonomous mobile robot. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 15:275–299, 1995.
C. Versino and L. M. Gambardella. Ibots learn genuine team solutions. In M. Van Someren and G. Widmer, editors, Proceedings European Machine Learning ECML-97, pages 298–311, Kyoto, Japan, 1997. Springer Verlag. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence.
L.E. Parker. The effect of action recognition and robot awareness in cooperative robotic teams. In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems IROS-95, volume 1, pages 212–219, Pittsburgh, PA, August 1995. Springer Verlag.
M. J. Matarić. Learning in multi-robot systems. In G. Weiss and S. Sen, editors, Adaptation and Learning in Multi-Agent Systems, volume 1042, pages 152–163. Springer Verlag, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, 1996.
A. Muricano and J. del R. Millán. Learning signaling behaviors and specialization in cooperative agents. Adaptive Behavior, 5(1):5–28, 1997.
D. Goldberg and M. J. Matarić. Interference as tool for designing and evaluating multi-robot controllers. CS-96-186, Brandeis University Computer Science Technical Report, 1996.
M. Maris and R. te Boekhorst. Exploiting physical constraints: Heap formation through behavioral error in a group of robots. In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems IROS-96, volume 3, pages 1655–1660, Osaka, Japan, November 1996.
T. C. Lüth, J. Hellqvist, and T. Längle. Distributing real-time control tasks among multi-agent robot systems. In Proceedings of the World Automation Congress WAC-96, volume 3, pages 477–482, Montpellier, France, May 1996.
M. Jufer, L. Cardoletti, P. Germano, B. Arnet, M. Perrottet, and N. Macabrey. Induction contactless energy transmission system for an electric vehicle. In Proceedings of International Conference on Electrical Machines ICEM-96, volume II, pages 343–347, Vigo, Septembre 1996.
K-Team SA. Khepera user manual. Version 4.06, 1995.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer-Verlag London Limited
About this paper
Cite this paper
Martinoli, A., Franzi, E., Matthey, O. (1998). Towards a reliable set-up for bio-inspired collective experiments with real robots. In: Casals, A., de Almeida, A.T. (eds) Experimental Robotics V. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, vol 232. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0112995
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0112995
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-76218-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-40920-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive