Collective Dynamics of Active Elements: Task Allocation and Pheromone Trailing

(Dated: February 7, 2008)Collective behavior of active elements inspired by mass of biological organisms is addressed. Espe-cially, two topics are focused on among amazing behaviors performed by colony of ants. First, taskallocation phenomena are treated from the viewpoint of proportion regulation of population betweendifferent states. Using a dynamical model consisting of elements and external “stock materials”,adaptability against various disturbances is numerically studied. In addition, a dynamical modelfor a colony ants interacting via two kind of pheromones is studied, in which simulated ants, as amass, are shown to make an efficient foraging flexibly varying the foraging tactics according to feed-ing schedules. Finally, experiments are performed with robots moving in virtual pheromone fieldssimulated by CG and CCD camera feedback system. Trail formation processes are demonstratedby this multi-robot system.I. INTRODUCTION