Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- teaching:mfe:ia [2011/03/23 08:28]
mdorigo [Studying collaboration between flying robots and ground-based robots]
+++ teaching:mfe:ia [2011/03/23 08:31]
mdorigo [Adaptive collective alignment with a swarm of e-puck robots]
@@ Line 235: / Line 235: @@
   * Contacts: [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]], Marco Dorigo, Nithin Mathews (IRIDIA)
-===== Adaptive collective alignment with a swarm of e-puck robots =====
+===== Recruitment strategies for collective decision making in swarm robotics =====
-Flocking is a fascinating behavior that birds are able to achieve without a leader or a common frame of reference. Moreover, in some cases, the group goes in the correct direction even if only a small proportion of the group knows the goal direction. This allows birds to avoid a predator even if only a subset of the flock sees it. We want to study one of the most interesting aspects of this mechanism, that is how a group can align collectively to a common direction and change this direction over time according to some stimuli perceived only by a small minority of individuals.
+Studies of ants and bees have led to different models of collective
+decision making methods in social insects. Swarms of cooperating
+robots also have to find consensus decisions and thus face similar
+problems as social insects. It is an interesting research question if
+the biological models can be applied to create decentralized and
+robust decision making methods for swarms of robots. More precisely,
+we assume that robots are able to estimate their confidence
+about their own decision. Thus, if a group of robots is unsure about a
+decision they shall recruit more robots into the decision process to
+assure a certain quality in the overall decision.
-The goal of this project is to apply a methodology, so far studied only in simulation, to the e-puck robots, in order to tackle the adaptive collective alignment problem. A group of e-pucks has to reach consensus and turn to a common random heading direction, using a common light source as reference point. Furthermore, when an obstacle is perceived by a small minority of the group, consensus should be achieved in order to align to a new direction which allows them to avoid the obstacle.
+The goal of this master thesis project is to study different
+recruitment strategies for decision making in swarms of robots. The
+following application scenario will be implemented. A group
+of robots need to classify an object in order to operate on it.
+Through its sensors the single robots can classify an object with a
+certain accuracy. This opinion can then be shared in a group to reach
+consensus. If the individual robot's opinions differ strongly from the
+one of other
+robots or the robots do not have the necessary skills/sensors they
+might not be able to reach a final decision. In this case they can
+recruit other robots and involve them in the decision making process.
-Required skills: The candidates should be acquainted with C/C++ programming and have a working knowledge of the English language.
+Required skills: the candidates should be acquainted with C/C++
+programming and have a working knowledge of the English language.
+* Contact: [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]], Marco Dorigo, Manuele Brambilla, Alexander Scheidler (IRIDIA)
-  * Contact: [[http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~mbiro|Mauro Birattari]], Marco Dorigo, Eliseo Ferrante, Ali Emre Turgut (IRIDIA)
 ===== Scalable aggregation in swarm robotics without global information or environmental clues =====