In swarm robotics, just as for an animal swarm in Nature, one of the aims is to reach and maintain a desired configuration. One of the possibilities for the team, to reach this aim, is to see what its neighbours are doing. This approach generates a rules system governing the movement of the single robot just by reference to neighbour's motion. The same approach is used in position based dynamics to simulate behaviour of complex continuum materials under deformation. Therefore, in some previous works, we have considered a two-dimensional lattice of particles and calculated its time evolution by using a rules system derived from our experience in swarm robotics. The new position of a particle, like the element of a swarm, is determined by the spatial position of the other particles. No dynamic is considered, but it can be thought as being hidden in the behaviour rules. This method has given good results in some simple situations reproducing the behaviour of deformable bodies under imposed strain. In this paper we try to stress our model to highlight its limits and how they can be improved. Some other, more complex, examples are computed and discussed. Shear test, different lattice, different fracture mechanism and ASTM shape sample behaviour have been investigated by the software tool we have developed.

中文翻译：

---

群体机器人与连续材料的复杂行为

在群机器人中，就像自然界中的动物群一样，目标之一是达到并保持所需的配置。为了达到这个目标，团队的可能性之一就是看看它的邻居在做什么。这种方法生成一个规则系统，仅通过参考邻居的运动来控制单个机器人的运动。在基于位置的动力学中使用相同的方法来模拟复杂连续材料在变形下的行为。因此，在之前的一些工作中，我们已经考虑了粒子的二维晶格，并通过使用我们在群体机器人技术中的经验得出的规则系统来计算其时间演化。一个粒子的新位置，就像群的元素一样，由其他粒子的空间位置决定。不考虑动态，但它可以被认为是隐藏在行为规则中的。这种方法在一些简单的情况下得到了很好的结果，再现了在外加应变下可变形体的行为。在本文中，我们试图强调我们的模型以突出其局限性以及如何改进它们。计算和讨论了一些其他更复杂的示例。我们开发的软件工具已经研究了剪切试验、不同的晶格、不同的断裂机制和 ASTM 形状样品行为。