Experiments in evolving communicating controllers for teams of robots

Multiple mobile robot systems working together to achieve a task have many advantages over single robot systems. However, the planning and execution of a task which is to be undertaken by multiple robots is extremely difficult. To date no tools exist which allow such systems to be engineered. One of the key questions that arises when developing such systems is: "Does communication between the robots aid the completion of the task, and if so what information should be communicated ?". This paper presents the results of an initial investigation undertaken to address the above question. The approach adopted is to utilise Genetic Programming (GP) with the aim of evolving a controller, and letting the evolution process determine firstly, is communication required, and secondly, what information should be communicated. A number of experiments were performed which were undertaken with the aim of determining the role communication plays in evolving robot controllers. The results of these experiments are presented in this paper. It is shown that the GP system evolved controllers whose performance benefited as a result of the communication process.