Modeling and designing self-organized aggregation in a swarm of miniature robots

We model the dynamics of self-organized robot aggregation inspired by a study on the aggregation of gregarious arthropods. In swarms of German cockroaches, aggregation into clusters emerges solely from local interactions between the individuals, whereas the probabilities of joining or leaving a cluster are a function of the cluster size. We propose a non-spatial population dynamics model that keeps track of the number of robots in clusters of specific size using control parameters of the individual robots and the probability of detecting another robot in the environment. The model is able to quantitatively and qualitatively predict the dynamics observed in extensive realistic multi-robot simulation, and provides qualitative agreement with data obtained from aggregation of Blattela germanica larvae. In particular, we show by analysis, numerical and realistic simulation that the emergence of a single aggregate requires a minimal communication range between individuals.