Bee-Bots: A Blockchain Based Decentralised Swarm Robotic System

Abstract

Swarm robotics is a biologically inspired approach that has been popularly used for tasks that require miniaturisation and fault tolerance at low cost. Constituents in a swarm communicate by means of stigmergy, a mechanism where common information is stored in the environment by the individuals. We model the storage and retrieval of this communication in swarm robotic systems with decentralisation using Blockchain Technology. Blockchain lets a group of agents reach consensus as well as exchange data without the need for a central authority, just like in a swarm. Construction of structures is a common problem that can be solved by using swarm robotics. In this paper, we apply the blockchain approach to decentralisation of swarm systems to construct 2-D structures with blocks in a multi-bot environment as a Proof of Concept.