Self-organizing Multirobot Exploration through Counter-Ant Algorithm

Ilhem Kallel (1) , Abdelhak Chatty (2, 3) , M.Alimi Adel (1)

1 REGIM-Lab - REsearch Group in Intelligent Machines [Sfax]
2 CEM Lab - ENIS - Département de Génie Électrique de Sfax [ENIS]
3 ETIS - UMR 8051 - Equipes Traitement de l'Information et Systèmes

This paper presents an evolving method for a self-organizing multirobot exploration of an unknown environment. In such problem, a big consideration is given to the coordination behavior of robots in order to achieve the common tasks in an optimal way. Ant algorithms are proved to be very useful in solving such distributed control problems. We present here a modified version of the known ant algorithm, called Counter-Ant Algorithm (CAA). Indeed, the robots'collective behavior is based on repulsion instead of attraction to pheromone, which is a chemical matter open to evaporation and representing the core of ants' cooperation. A series of experimentations with MINDSTORMS LEGO robots, and simulations under Madkit platform, in laboratory conditions similar to real ones, show the usefulness of our algorithm for self-organizing and cooperative exploration.

Domaines: Adaptation et Systèmes auto-organisés [nlin.AO]; Robotique [cs.RO]

Ilhem Kallel, Abdelhak Chatty, M.Alimi Adel. Self-organizing Multirobot Exploration through Counter-Ant Algorithm. Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Self-Organizing Systems (IWSOS), Dec 2008, Austria. pp.133-144. ⟨hal-00955875⟩