Abstract

Swarm robotics is a well-evolved research area over the past couple of decades. In this paper, we introduce a framework for programming swarm robots in a novel approach based on behavior categorization, pheromone communication, and state representation. The framework is packaged with a set of well defined and tested behaviors that are structured based on the level of interactions between robots. These behaviors can be combined and integrated into the user code when implementing new behaviors. Robots function in a user-defined state and per- form actions attributed to that state. We have used a behaviors-based bottom-up design approach for designing these behaviors which eventually alleviate the debugging and implementation process. The efficacy of our work is validated using results obtained from a custom-built simulation platform. These results include tests involving an random movement behavior, an object finding behavior, and implementation of an aggregation behavior.

Index Terms

robot-swarm, bottom-up design approach, virtual pheromone, behavior-based design, swarm aggregation