Abstract Due to the recent advances in robotics, large numbers of robots can be created that exhibit ‘swarm-like’ behavior. These robots, typically small and low-cost with restricted sensing, often exhibit Brownian motion similar to micro-particles. The development of algorithms that create collective behavior that is robust to external pressures has applications in outdoor exploration, search and rescue operations, and nanomedicine. Here, we outline how a swarm of minimal robots, exhibiting only Brownian motion and with limited sensing capabilities, can form trails using mechanisms inspired by diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA). We demonstrate how the trail is robust to obstacles and efficient at finding the closest target. We validate this algorithm both in simulation as well as in reality, using a swarm of up to 100 robots, and highlight the optimum requirements for trail formation.

中文翻译：

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使用大群最小机器人形成小径

摘要 由于机器人技术的最新进展，可以创建大量具有“类群”行为的机器人。这些机器人通常体积小、成本低、传感受限，通常表现出类似于微粒的布朗运动。创建对外部压力具有鲁棒性的集体行为的算法的开发已应用于户外探索、搜索和救援行动以及纳米医学。在这里，我们概述了一群仅表现出布朗运动且传感能力有限的最小机器人如何使用受扩散限制聚合 (DLA) 启发的机制形成轨迹。我们展示了路径如何对障碍物具有鲁棒性并有效地找到最近的目标。我们使用多达 100 个机器人的群在模拟和现实中验证了该算法，