Behavioral diversity as multiagent cooperation

In many cases cooperation between robots is implemented using explicit, perhaps complex, coordination protocols. However, research in behavior-based multirobot systems suggests that e ective cooperative teams can be composed of agents using simple individual agent behaviors with limited or no communication. In this paper we propose behavioral diversity as an alternative cooperative strategy. Behavioral diversity refers to the extent towhich agents assume distinct behavioral roles in a group. By lling diverse roles the team members distribute responsibility for various components of the task. It is not always the case, however, that diversity isadvantageous. Results of experiments in robotic soccer and multirobot foraging tasks indicate that the utilityofdiversity depends on the task. This paper describes behaviorally diverse solutions to these tasks and provides a comparison that suggests why some tasks are suited for behavioral diversity and others are not