Bio Inspired Self Organizing Robotic Systems

Self-organizing approaches inspired from biological systems, such as social insects, genetic, molecular and cellular systems under morphogenesis, and human mental development, has enjoyed great success in advanced robotic systems that need to work in dynamic and changing environments. Compared with classical control methods for robotic systems, the major advantages of bio-inspired self-organizing robotic systems include robustness, self-repair and self-healing in the presence of system failures and/or malfunctions, high adaptability to environmental changes, and autonomous self-organization and self-reconfiguration without a centralized control. “Bio-inspired Self-organizing Robotic Systems” provides a valuable reference for scientists, practitioners and research students working on developing control algorithms for self-organizing engineered collective systems, such as swarm robotic systems, self-reconfigurable modular robots, smart material based robotic devices, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellite constellations.

A comprehensive introduction to new approaches in artificial intelligence and robotics that are inspired by self-organizing biological processes and structures. New approaches to artificial intelligence spring from the idea that intelligence emerges as much from cells, bodies, and societies as it does from evolution, development, and learning. Traditionally, artificial intelligence has been concerned with reproducing the abilities of human brains; newer approaches take inspiration from a wider range of biological structures that that are capable of autonomous self-organization. Examples of these new approaches include evolutionary computation and evolutionary electronics, artificial neural networks, immune systems, biorobotics, and swarm intelligence—to mention only a few. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field of biologically inspired artificial intelligence that can be used as an upper-level text or as a reference for researchers. Each chapter presents computational approaches inspired by a different biological system; each begins with background information about the biological system and then proceeds to develop computational models that make use of biological concepts. The chapters cover evolutionary computation and electronics; cellular systems; neural systems, including neuromorphic engineering; developmental systems; immune systems; behavioral systems—including several approaches to robotics, including behavior-based, bio-mimetic, epigenetic, and evolutionary robots; and collective systems, including swarm robotics as well as cooperative and competitive co-evolving systems. Chapters end with a concluding overview and suggested reading.

An overview of the basic concepts and methodologies of evolutionary robotics, which views robots as autonomous artificial organisms that develop their own skills in close interaction with the environment and without human intervention.

It is man’s ongoing hope that a machine could somehow adapt to its environment by reorganizing itself. This is what the notion of self-organizing robots is based on. The theme of this book is to examine the feasibility of creating such robots within the limitations of current mechanical engineering. The topics comprise the following aspects of such a pursuit: the philosophy of design of self-organizing mechanical systems; self-organization in biological systems; the history of self-organizing mechanical systems; a case study of a self-assembling/self-repairing system as an autonomous distributed system; a self-organizing robot that can create its own shape and robotic motion; implementation and instrumentation of self-organizing robots; and the future of self-organizing robots. All topics are illustrated with many up-to-date examples, including those from the authors’ own work. The book does not require advanced knowledge of mathematics to be understood, and will be of great benefit to students in the robotics discipline, including in the areas of mechanics, control, electronics, and computer science. It is also an important source for researchers who wish to investigate the field of robotics or who have an interest in the application of self-organizing phenomena.

Great interest is now focused on distributed autonomous robotic systems (DARS) as a new strategy for the realization of flexible, robust, and intelligent robots. Inspired by autonomous, decentralized, and self-organizing biological systems, the field of DARS encompasses broad interdisciplinary technologies related not only to robotics and computer engineering but also to biology and psychology. The rapidly growing interest in this new area of research was manifest in the first volume of Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems, published in 1994. This second volume in the series presents the most recent work by eminent researchers and includes such topics as multirobot control, distributed robotic systems design, self-organizing systems, and sensing and navigation for cooperative robots. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 2 is a valuable source for those whose work involves robotics and will be of great interest to those in the fields of artificial intelligence, self-organizing systems, artificial life, and computer science.

The academic community is currently facing the challenge of navigating the complexities of swarm robotics. This field demands understanding the design, control, and coordination of autonomous robotic swarms. The intricacies of developing algorithms that facilitate communication, cooperation, and adaptation among simple individual agents remain a formidable obstacle. Addressing issues like task allocation, formation control, path planning, and decentralized decision-making are pivotal to unlocking the true potential of swarm robotics. Bio-inspired Swarm Robotics and Control: Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Strategies immerses readers in the cutting-edge realm of swarm robotics, a discipline inspired by the intricate choreography observed in biological systems like insect colonies, bird flocks, and fish schools. Encompassing a rich array of bio-inspired algorithms, mechanisms, and strategies, the text elucidates how robots can communicate, cooperate, and adapt within dynamic environments. The book propels robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence advancements by fostering interdisciplinary connections and charting a course toward more efficient and resilient multi-robot systems. This book is ideal for biologists, engineers, and computer scientists to join forces in unlocking the full potential of swarm robotics.

This book introduces the theories and methods of Nature-Inspired Robotics in artificial intelligence. Software and hardware technologies, alongside theories and methods, illustrate the application of bio-inspired artificial intelligence. It includes discussions on topics such as Robot Control Manipulators, Geometric Transformation, Robotic Drive Systems and Nature Inspired Robotic Neural System. Elaborating upon recent progress made in five distinct configurations of nature-inspired computing, it explores the potential applications of this technology in two specific areas: neuromorphic computing systems and neuromorphic perceptual systems. · Discusses advances in cutting-edge technology in brain-inspired computing, perception technologies and aspects of neuromorphic electronics · Offers a thorough introduction to two-terminal neuromorphic memristors, including memristive devices and resistive switching mechanisms · Provides comprehensive explorations of spintronic neuromorphic devices and multi-terminal neuromorphic devices with cognitive behaviours · Includes cognitive behaviour of Inspired Robotics and cognitive technologies with applications in Artificial Intelligence · Contains practical discussions of neuromorphic devices based on chalcogenide and organic materials. This text acts as a reference book for students, scholars, and industry professionals.

The book’s contributing authors are among the top researchers in swarm intelligence. The book is intended to provide an overview of the subject to novices, and to offer researchers an update on interesting recent developments. Introductory chapters deal with the biological foundations, optimization, swarm robotics, and applications in new-generation telecommunication networks, while the second part contains chapters on more specific topics of swarm intelligence research.

The increasing presence of mobile robots in our everyday lives introduces the requirements for their intelligent and autonomous features. Therefore the next generation of mobile robots should be more self-capable, in respect to: increasing of their functionality in unforeseen situations, decreasing of the human involvement in their everyday operations and their maintenance; being robust; fault tolerant and reliable in their operation. Although mobile robotic systems have been a topic of research for decades and aside the technology improvements nowadays, the subject on how to program and making them more autonomous in their operations is still an open field for research. Applying bio-inspired, organic approaches in robotics domain is one of the methodologies that are considered that would help on making the robots more autonomous and self-capable, i.e. having properties such as: self-reconfiguration, self-adaptation, self-optimization, etc. In this book several novel biologically inspired approaches for walking robots (multi-legged and humanoid) domain are introduced and elaborated. They are related to self-organized and self-stabilized robot walking, anomaly detection within robot systems using self-adaptation, and mitigating the faulty robot conditions by self-reconfiguration of a multi-legged walking robot. The approaches presented have been practically evaluated in various test scenarios, the results from the experiments are discussed in details and their practical usefulness is validated.