On Gathering and Control of Unicycle A(ge)nts with Crude Sensing Capabilities

The authors present a local rule of behavior for extremely simple unicycle agents that can only detect the presence of other agents in a visibility sector directly in front of them. Following this simple rule of interaction, the agents gather and remain close to one another, without ever acquiring any information on exact distances or bearings toward any other agent. The simplicity of the agents allows a cost-effective implementation of the model presented, since the use of sophisticated sensing, communication, and computation equipment is rendered unnecessary. The agents ultimately settle into a rotating regular polygon or some other cohesive behavior, depending on a set of simple predefined parameters: the agents' field of view, their common speed and their turn radii. Methods of externally controlling the collective motion of such a swarm are also discussed, and examples are given in simulation and experiment.