|
Control >> Aggregation >> Center Periphery
Centre/Periphery Pattern Formation
Centre/periphery patterns are observed in ant colonies and animal
societies. For example, soldier ants create a periphery around the
trail protecting the other ants that are bringing food to the nest.
Inside the nests of social insects, the specialists are segregated
(two or more concentric rings) or form a cluster at the centre of the
swarm. In some species of birds and mammals, cubs are usually kept at
the centre of the group, protected by a ring of adults.
Designing Centre/Periphery Formation
Two different types of s-bots are used for centre/periphery formation:
-
Centre s-bots (red ones in the pictures) are mainly attracted
by sound. They turn their speaker on with a very low
probability when they are not connected. When they are
surrounded from different directions tightly, they try to
connect to surrounding robots for the formation of a stable
centre. If centre s-bots are connected to others, their sound
emission probability increases in order to inform other s-bots
that the centre cluster is formed.
-
Periphery s-bots (blue ones) are attracted by sound like
centre s-bots. They connect whenever it is possible but there
are two different situations in which they disconnect: first,
when periphery s-bots are connected to some other s-bots and
they are not located in the border of any cluster. Second,
when a periphery s-bot is approached from back by a centre
s-bot. In this case, the periphery s-bot must disconnect and
allow the centre s-bot to go into cluster. After that, the
periphery s-bot may connect again. In both situations,
periphery s-bots should disconnect first, be repelled by the
cluster, randomly move around for a certain period and then
return to the cluster.
Control >> Aggregation >> Center Periphery
| 
