iAnt swarm robotic platform and evolutionary algorithms
First Claim
1. A method of operating a plurality of robots to perform foraging for a resource, comprising the steps of:
- programming each robot to know where the nest is and with an inherent leash;
a. each robot is programmed to conduct a uniformed search by traveling to a random first location along a substantially straight path;
b. upon reaching said first location, each of said robots performing a uniformed correlated random walk for a first predetermined time period set by each robot independently of each other for random length of times;
c. if during said first predetermined time period no resource is found, said robot returns to the nest;
d. upon returning to the nest, each robot repeats steps a-c until a resource is found by at least one robot;
e. upon finding a resource, the robot finding the resource collects one or more resources, independently assigns a resource grade to the location, returns to the nest and depending on the resource grade
1) repeats steps a-c,
2) returns to the location without sharing the information with other robots, or
3) transmits a resource found signal informing the other robots of the resource location, said signal based on said resource grade; and
f. upon receiving a resource found signal, depending on the grade of the signal, the robot receiving the signal
1) repeats steps a-c, or
2) travels to the location and performs step e if a resource is found and if a resource is not found, performs an informed correlated random walk.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a swarm of robots and a related method of operating the swarm. The robots are programmed to start at a nest and to select a dispersal direction from a uniform random distribution. The robots travel along the dispersal direction until transitioning to a search mode upon reaching a search site, where the robot performs a correlated random walk with fixed step size and direction and using a standard deviation to determine how correlated the direction of the next step of the robot is with the direction of the previous step. If no resource is found within predetermined time t independently determined by each of said robots, the robot returns to the nest and repeats the above steps.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of operating a plurality of robots to perform foraging for a resource, comprising the steps of:
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programming each robot to know where the nest is and with an inherent leash; a. each robot is programmed to conduct a uniformed search by traveling to a random first location along a substantially straight path; b. upon reaching said first location, each of said robots performing a uniformed correlated random walk for a first predetermined time period set by each robot independently of each other for random length of times; c. if during said first predetermined time period no resource is found, said robot returns to the nest; d. upon returning to the nest, each robot repeats steps a-c until a resource is found by at least one robot; e. upon finding a resource, the robot finding the resource collects one or more resources, independently assigns a resource grade to the location, returns to the nest and depending on the resource grade
1) repeats steps a-c,
2) returns to the location without sharing the information with other robots, or
3) transmits a resource found signal informing the other robots of the resource location, said signal based on said resource grade; andf. upon receiving a resource found signal, depending on the grade of the signal, the robot receiving the signal
1) repeats steps a-c, or
2) travels to the location and performs step e if a resource is found and if a resource is not found, performs an informed correlated random walk. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of operating a plurality of robots to perform foraging for a resource, comprising the steps of:
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a. programming each of said robots to start at a nest and to select a dispersal direction from a uniform random distribution, said robots travel along said dispersal direction until transitioning to a search mode upon reaching said search site; b. said search mode comprises a correlated random walk with fixed step size and direction and using a standard deviation to determine how correlated the direction of the next step of the robot is with the direction of the previous step; and c. returning to said nest if a resource is not found within a predetermined time t. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of operating a plurality of robots to perform foraging for a resource, comprising the steps of:
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a. programming each of said robots to start at a nest and to select a dispersal direction from a uniform random distribution, said robots travel along said dispersal direction until transitioning to a search mode upon reaching a search site; b. said search mode comprises a correlated random walk with fixed step size and direction and using a standard deviation to determine how correlated the direction of the next step of the robot is with the direction of the previous step; c. a robot returns to said nest if a resource is not found within a predetermined time t independently determined by the robot; d. repeating steps a through c until at least one resource is found by one of said plurality of said robots; f. when a robot locates a resource, said robot locating the resource performs the steps of collecting the resource, recording a count c of resources found, returning to said nest, and upon returning to said nest, said robot generates a resource location communication and then returns to the resource location if c exceeds a uniform random value and, if c is less than the uniform random value, the robot follows a resource location communication to another location if a resource location communication is available and if no resource location communication is available, the robot will choose its next search location at random; and g. for a robot that is conducting a search based on receiving a resource location communication, said robot searches the resource location using an informed correlated random walk, where the standard deviation of the successive turning angles of the informed random walk decays as a function of time t randomly determined by said robot, producing an initially undirected and localized search that becomes more correlated over time. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification