Power in Numbers: Primitive Algorithm for Swarm Robot Navigation in Unknown Environments

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple swarm robot navigation algorithm that relies solely on goal direction and relative positions, avoiding complex environment sensing or communication.

Contribution

It presents a novel, minimalistic navigation method for swarm robots in unknown environments, validated through mathematical analysis, simulations, and real-world experiments.

Findings

The algorithm enables robots to navigate without environment sensing.

Simulations demonstrate effective obstacle avoidance and goal reaching.

Experimental results confirm practical applicability with sound-based navigation.

Abstract

Recently, the navigation of mobile robots in unknown environments has become a particularly significant research topic. Previous studies have primarily employed real-time environmental mapping using cameras and LiDAR, along with self-localization and path generation based on those maps. Additionally, there is research on Sim-to-Real transfer, where robots acquire behaviors through pre-trained reinforcement learning and apply these learned actions in real-world navigation. However, strictly the observe action and modelling of unknown environments that change unpredictably over time with accuracy and precision is an extremely complex endeavor. This study proposes a simple navigation algorithm for traversing unknown environments by utilizes the number of swarm robots. The proposed algorithm assumes that the robot has only the simple function of sensing the direction of the goal and the relative positions of the surrounding robots. The robots can navigate an unknown environment by simply continuing towards the goal while bypassing surrounding robots. The method does not need to sense the environment, determine whether they or other robots are stuck, or do the complicated inter-robot communication. We mathematically validate the proposed navigation algorithm, present numerical simulations based on the potential field method, and conduct experimental demonstrations using developed robots based on the sound fields for navigation.