# Local Interactions for Cohesive Flexible Swarms

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a method for maintaining connected yet flexible swarm formations using local interactions, enabling navigation in complex environments while reducing communication overhead.

## Contribution

It proposes a novel approach to preserve connectivity with fewer effective edges, enhancing swarm adaptability and obstacle navigation capabilities.

## Key findings

- Maintains connectivity with fewer edges in the swarm graph.
- Enables flexible maneuvering in obstacle-rich environments.
- Reduces communication complexity in swarm systems.

## Abstract

Distributed gathering algorithms aim to achieve complete visibility graphs via a "never lose a neighbour" policy. We suggest a method to maintain connected graph topologies, while reducing the number of effective edges in the graph to order n. This allows to achieve different goals and swarming behaviours: the system remains connected but flexible, hence can maneuver in environments that are replete with obstacles and narrow passages, etc.