An interactive simulation of control and coordination strategies for swarms of autonomous construction robots

Abstract

There is an established idea – found in science fiction, architectural studios, and scientific papers alike – of stainable buildings crafted from bio-based materials, colonized by plant and animal life, and blending seamlessly into the natural surroundings. Such buildings might one day be built, maintained and remodelled by swarms of autonomous robots, allowing them to evolve in response to the changing needs of their inhabitants. Inspired by that vision, this paper contributes to the field of swarm intelligence with a focus on robotic construction and human-swarm interaction. Along with a short literature review on robotic building, swarm intelligence and biocompatible building materials, the paper presents an open-source simulation of abstracted termite-like swarm construction. The focus is mainly on human-swarm interaction, specifically how to influence the emergent behaviour of an autonomous swarm in order to elicit a desired outcome while retaining the robustness and adaptability of a self-organized system. The simulator is used to demonstrate a set of four autonomous swarm behaviours that are representative of construction tasks.

Keywords

• swarm robotics
• robotic additive manufacturing
• emergent behaviour
• computational modelling
• termites