Self-Adaptation of a Heterogeneous Swarm of Mobile Robots to a Covered Area
Abstract
:1. Introduction and Related Works
2. Previous Work and Study
3. Initial Conditions and Definitions of the Algorithm
3.1. Space Representation
3.2. Agent Representation
- , respectively, are the time periods used when adding (removing) an agent into (from) the group ;
- , respectively, are the thresholds on the number of conflicts required to initiate a request for adding (removing) an agent to (from) the group , and the following conditions must be met ();
- , respectively, are timers of exploration time used when adding (removing) the agents;
- , respectively, are the conflict counters used when adding (removing) an agent into (from) the group ; and
- , respectively, represent the thresholds on the pheromone levels for adding (removing) the agent to (from) the group .
3.3. Pheromone Marks for an Indirect Communication between the Agents
- The first type indicates that there are too few agents in the given subspace to accomplish the task (exploration and monitor).
- The second type indicates that there are too many agents.
- The third type indicates the exploration/monitoring ability.
4. The Algorithms
- 0—An agent is waiting for a request;
- 1—An agent is moving to the entrance of the target subspace;
- 2—An agents is exploring or monitoring a space;
- 3—An agent has a request to add or to remove an agent related to its own group;
- 4—An agent has a request to add an agent into a group different than its own or agent found an entrance to new unexplored subspace;
- 5—An agent is waiting to be transported;
- 6—An agent is transporting another agent;
- 7—An agent is being transported by another agent.
4.1. Space Exploration/Monitoring Roles
- If the agent’s neighboring cells contain at least some non-zero pheromone values, the agent attempts to find the neighboring cell with the lowest pheromone value , , , cell. If there are multiple cells with the same low level of pheromones, then the agent chooses one of these cells at random. The agent moves to the selected cell in the next iteration if it does not conflict with other agents.
- If the cells neighboring the agent have only zero pheromone values, then the agent chooses at random one of these cells and stores the direction it has decided to move to. The agent then continues to move in the chosen direction , in the next iterations until its neighboring cells contain only zero pheromone values and if it does not conflict with other agents.
- If two or more agents intend to move into the same cell, a conflict occurs. In this situation, one of the agents is chosen randomly as a winner and it moves to the given cell in the next iteration. All the remaining agents participating in the conflict stay in their positions and wait for the next random tournament.
4.2. Population Management Role
- adding agents into the group and
- removing agents from the group.
4.2.1. Adding Agents into the Group
4.2.2. Removing Agents from the Group
4.3. Transportation Role
- the agent’s transportation (represented by states 5–7 in Figure 2),
- the creation of an addition request related to a different environment than the environment the given agent is capable of operating within (represented by state 4 in Figure 2), and
- the transfer of an addition request related to a group that is different than the group of the given agent (represented by state 4 in Figure 2).
4.3.1. Transport of an Agent
4.3.2. Creating a Request for Adding an Agent into a Subspace with an Environment Where the Request Creating Agent is Not Capable of Operation
4.3.3. Transfer of the Addition Request Related to the Addition of an Agent into a Group that Is Different than the Group of the Transferring Agent
4.4. Priority Rules
- -
- If all the neighbors are in state 3 and carry the same request (either to add or to remove an agent) then one of them is chosen randomly to remain in state 3 and the remaining agents change their state from 3 to 2 and reset their parameters , , , ; otherwise, (all the neighbors are in state 3 but carry different requests) all the neighbors change their state to 2 and reset their parameters to zero;
- -
- otherwise, if the neighbors are in states 2 and 3 then one of them is randomly chosen to remain in state 3 and the remaining agents change their state to 2; the agents in state 2 reset their counters , , , ;
- -
- otherwise, if the neighbors are in state 4 but they must carry the same request and in state 2 one of them is chosen randomly to remain in state 4 and the remaining agents change their state to 2; the agents in state 2 reset their counters , , , ;
- -
- otherwise, if the neighbors are in other states they will remain in their respective states and reset their counters.
5. Experiments
- experiments focused on the dynamic addition of agents,
- experiments focused on the dynamic removal of agents, and
- experiments focused on the interaction between the dynamic removal and addition.
5.1. Simple Experiments—The Dynamic Addition of Agents
5.2. Simple Experiments—The Dynamic Removal of Agents from the Group
5.3. Simple Experiments—The Interaction between Dynamic Removal and Addition
5.4. Complex Experiments—Experiments Focused on the Interactions between Dynamic Removal and Addition
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Zelenka, J.; Kasanický, T.; Bundzel, M.; Andoga, R. Self-Adaptation of a Heterogeneous Swarm of Mobile Robots to a Covered Area. Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103562
Zelenka J, Kasanický T, Bundzel M, Andoga R. Self-Adaptation of a Heterogeneous Swarm of Mobile Robots to a Covered Area. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10(10):3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103562
Chicago/Turabian StyleZelenka, Ján, Tomáš Kasanický, Marek Bundzel, and Rudolf Andoga. 2020. "Self-Adaptation of a Heterogeneous Swarm of Mobile Robots to a Covered Area" Applied Sciences 10, no. 10: 3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103562