Swarm robotics

Swarm robotics is a novel approach to the coordination of large numbers of robots and has emerged as the application of swarm intelligence to multi-robot systems. Different from other swarm intelligence studies, swarm robotics puts emphases on the physical embodiment of individuals and realistic interactions among the individuals and between the individuals and the environment. In this chapter, we present a brief review of this new approach. We first present its definition, discuss the main motivations behind the approach, as well as its distinguishing characteristics and major coordination mechanisms. Then we present a brief review of swarm robotics research along four axes; namely design, modelling and analysis, robots and problems.