Programming modular robots with the TOTA middleware

Modular robots represent a perfect application scenario for multiagent coordination. The autonomous modules composing the robot must coordinate their respective activities to enforce a specific global shape or a coherent motion gait. Here we show how the TOTA ("Tuples On The Air") middleware can be effectively exploited to support agents' coordination in this context. The key idea in TOTA is to rely on spatially distributed tuples, spread across the robot, to guide the agents' activities in moving and reshaping the robot. Three simulated examples are presented to support our claims.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Marco Mamei, Franco Zambonelli
• Keywords: ATAL 2006, Coherent Motion Gait, Intelligent Agents, Perfect Application Scenario, Specific Global Shape