Swarm Robotics

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Humans can bond together to accomplish a specific mission, by performing as a team and decom- posing the mission into smaller, distinct tasks. Contemporary fleets of robots fail to the extent that they require external instruction to complete a mission because it presumes the foreseeability of decision points during the execution of tasks. Swarm robotics aspires to equip traditional mobile robotics with the ability to complete complex missions successfully and with minimal reliance on an external authority for task delegation.
Swarm Intelligence: the Precursor to Swarm Robotics
Swarm intelligence is “artificial intelligence based on the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems.” [1] While an individual member’s contribution may be minimal, the combination of many members’ efforts results in a “pattern of emergent behavior with a powerful ability to solve problems in a dynamic environment.” [2] Such systems typically comprise a plurality of autonomous agents that interact locally with one another and with their environment according to simple rules. The non-deterministic nature of these interactions often effects complex global behavior. [3]
Presently, the surveillance and exploration industries have significant interest in using remote, unmanned vehicles for search-related activities. Because many of the target environments are too dangerous or hazardous for human-piloted vehicles, the obvious choice is to use an unmanned vehicle. What implicates swarm robotics as the optimal choice is the fact that an individual member of the swarm is expendable. As such, this technology could provide access to previously unreachable surveillance or reconnaissance targets, viz., locations contaminated with fallout from
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...s a lot of risk at this point in time. First, robotic algorithms and the hardware available may take much longer to develop than expected, and this opportunity may end up actually being 20–30 yearsout.Consideringthepast,itwasthoughtinthe80âA ̆Z ́sthatrobotswerejustaroundthe corner, and then again in the 90’s. We may be wrong again. Additionally, the it has not been proven to be cost-efficient, except in very specialized, and usually extremely large-scale, applications.
The potential reward is very high, with a total market size of nearly $1T, but these are currently outweighed by the risks. Our recommendation to NEW TECHNOLOGIES VENTURES would be to wait until a market participant enters that can replace human labor and focuses on matching the costs of the customer to the value with which it is provided. None of the current market players match these characteristics.

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