Multi-robot systems switch between central control and swarming behaviors
Facultative Swarming: A Capability, Not a Category, for Multi-Robot Systems
Robotics
Summary
Robots that work together often face a choice: follow a central plan that is optimal or act independently like a swarm that can adapt to problems. The authors suggest a new way where robots can do both, switching between central control and self-organized swarming depending on their situation. This flexible approach lets multi-robot systems perform well when conditions are good and stay robust when they face challenges. Instead of seeing swarming as a fixed type of system, it is a capability that robots can turn on or off as needed.
What this means in practice
- •For robotics system designers: Design multi-robot teams that adaptively switch between planned coordination and self-organized swarming based on environmental conditions.
- •For autonomous vehicle fleet operators: Manage vehicle fleets that can operate under centralized routing but degrade gracefully to decentralized swarming when facing communication failures or environmental stress.
A position paper. It proposes an approach and reports no results.
Authors
Ning Zhou, Edmund R. Hunt
Abstract
Collective robotics is split by a long-standing but increasingly artificial boundary between centralised multi-robot systems that prioritise optimality and decentralised swarms that prioritise robustness and adaptivity. We propose a unified control framework, shifting from `obligate' swarms---systems constrained to pure self-organisation---to facultatively swarming systems: hybrid architectures that operate as centrally planned systems under permissive conditions yet degrade gracefully into decentralised swarming under environmental stress. By reframing swarming as a dynamic capability, rather than a rigid system category, we outline a pathway towards collective robotic systems that benefit from centralised optimality when conditions permit and from the flexibility of self-organisation when they do not.