L\'{e}vy robotics

TL;DR

This paper surveys the field of Lévy robotics, focusing on how Lévy walks, inspired by animal behaviors, are used for efficient exploration and target localization in autonomous robots, highlighting recent advances and future directions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of Lévy walk strategies in robotics, summarizing recent research, trends, and potential future developments in the field.

Findings

Lévy walks enable faster environment exploration.

Recent studies show improved target search efficiency.

The survey identifies key trends and future research directions.

Abstract

Two the most common tasks for autonomous mobile robots is to explore the environment and locate a target. %In the last case, the objective is either to find a target in the shortest time possible or, alternatively, to find %as many targets as possible for a given amount of time. Targets could range from sources of chemical contamination to people needing assistance in a disaster area. From the very beginning, the quest for most efficient search algorithms was strongly influenced by behavioral science and ecology, where researchers try to figure out the strategies used by leaving beings, from bacteria to mammals. Since then, bio-inspired random search algorithms remain one the most important directions in autonomous robotics. Recently a new wave arrived bringing a specific type of random walks as a universal search strategy exploited by immune cells, insects, mussels, albatrosses, sharks, deers, and a dozen of other animals including humans. These \textit{L\'{e}vy} walks combine two key features, the ability of walkers to spread anomalously fast while moving with a finite velocity. The latter is especially valuable in the context of robotics because it respects the reality autonomous robots live in. There is already an impressive body of publications on L\'{e}vy robotics; yet research in this field is unfolding further, constantly bringing new results, ideas, hypothesis and speculations. In this mini-review we survey the current state of the field, list latest advances, discuss the prevailing trends, and outline further perspectives.