PheroCom: Decentralised and asynchronous robot swarm coordination framework based on virtual pheromone and vibroacoustic communication

Abstract

Representing and controlling the dynamics of stigmergic substances used by bio-inspired approaches pose significant challenges when applied to robotics. In order to overcome this challenge, this work proposes a framework based on the virtualisation and control of these substances at a local scope, with the primary goal of coordinating robot swarms. This framework introduces a novel pheromone representation that enables decentralisation and decision asynchronicity, while its lightweight design ensures accessibility to resource-constrained platforms. Each robot maintains an independent virtual pheromone map in its memory, which is continuously updated through its own pheromone deposits and evaporation. Additionally, each robot’s pheromone map is also updated by aggregating information from other robots that are exploring nearby areas. Consequently, individual and independent maps eliminate the need for a centralised agent to manage and distribute pheromone information. This propagation mechanism is inspired by ants’ vibroacoustic communication, which is characterised as a form of indirect communication. The framework was evaluated using an agent-based mass simulation tool and a real-world simulation platform. Experiments were conducted to validate the framework in diverse environments, with variations in shapes, sizes, and the number of robots. Results demonstrated that this proposal can effectively perform the coordination of robot swarms, and the robots have exhibited satisfactory performance while executing the surveillance task.