Aggregation and localization of simple robots in curved environments

Abstract

This paper is about the closely-related problems of localization and aggregation for extremely simple robots, for which the only available action is to move in a given direction as far as the geometry of the environment allows. Such problems may arise, for example, in biomedical applications, wherein a large group of tiny robots moves in response to a shared external stimulus. Specifically, we extend the prior work on these kinds of problems presenting two algorithms for localization in environments with curved (rather than polygonal) boundaries and under low-friction models of interaction with the environment boundaries. We present both simulations and physical demonstrations to validate the approach.