2018, Zhong, Jia, Dornberger, Rolf, Hanne, Thomas

This paper investigates the functionality and quality of the implementation of a search and target surrounding swarm robotic algorithm using physical swarm robots named Kilobots. The implementation was developed and tested in the simulator V-REP, then transferred onto the actually running Kilobots: Ten Kilobots were used for the experiment, where one Kilobot acts as the target and nine Kilobots act as the searchers. The algorithm allows the searchers to swarm out to find the target while avoiding collisions with other searchers, to orbit around other searchers, which are closer to the target, and finally to surround the target once it is found. The results of the implementation using the physical Kilobots are compared with the results of two adjusted computer simulations. Differences between the simulations and the real robot implementation are investigated: Discrepancies regarding the locomotion and the communication capabilities are identified and discussed.

2018, Zhong, Jia, Umamaheshwarappa, Ramya Ramedeverahalli, Dornberger, Rolf, Hanne, Thomas

This paper presents the functionality and quality of the implementation of a search- and target-surrounding swarm robotic algorithm, which was developed and tested in the simulator V-REP, on actually running Kilobots. Ten Kilobots were used for the experiment where one Kilobot acts as target and nine Kilobots act as searchers. The algorithm allows the searchers to disperse to find the target, to avoid collisions with other searchers, to orbit other searchers, which are closer to the target, and to finally surround the target, once it is found. The results of the implementation using actual, real swarm robots are compared with the results of the computer simulation. Differences between simulation and real robot implementation are discussed. In particular, issues associated with the limitation in the Kilobots’ communication capability and their implications on the algorithm are investigated.