Enhancing the Cooperative Transport of Multiple Objects

In this paper we present an approach to the cooperative transport of multiple objects in swarm robotics. The approach is motivated by the observation that the performance of cooperative transport in insect colonies as well as in groups of robots grows in a super linear way with the number of individuals participating in the transport. The transport relies on a cart in which multiple objects are collected and stored before being moved to destination. The cart is carried by a group of robot that would be otherwise allocated to the transport of single objects. The cart is endowed with computational and communication abilities that allow it to cooperate with the transporting robots. This research is carried out within the framework of the Swarmanoid project and aims at enhancing the transport capabilities of the robot swarms developed in this project.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: ANTSW
• Authors: Antoine Decugnière, Benjamin Poulain, Alexandre Campo, Carlo Pinciroli, Bruno Tartini, Michel Osée, Marco Dorigo, Mauro Birattari
• Keywords: ANTSW 2008, Artificial Intelligence, Cart, Cooperative Transport, Multiple Objects