This work is about creating desired artificial self-organization in multi-agent and multi-robotic systems. It is demonstrated that emergent phenomena can artificially be designed when to treat collective systems on a new structural level. Examples of desired self-organization, implemented in manufacturing environment and in a large-scale swarm of micro-robots, allow deeper understanding of collective artificial intelligence. The work wins the infos-faculty-award as the best dissertation of 2008.

Distributed robotics is a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary research area lying at the intersection of computer science, communication and control systems, and electrical and mechanical engineering. The goal of the Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) is to exchange and stimulate research ideas to realize advanced distributed robotic systems. This volume of proceedings includes 43 original contributions presented at the Tenth International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2010), which was held in November 2010 at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. The selected papers in this volume are authored by leading researchers from Asia, Europa, and the Americas, thereby providing a broad coverage and perspective of the state-of-the-art technologies, algorithms, system architectures, and applications in distributed robotic systems. The book is organized into four parts, each representing one critical and long-term research thrust in the multi-robot community: distributed sensing (Part I); localization, navigation, and formations (Part II); coordination algorithms and formal methods (Part III); modularity, distributed manipulation, and platforms (Part IV).

This book examines the evolution of self-organised multicellular structures, and the remarkable transition from unicellular to multicellular life. It shows the way forward in developing new robotic entities that are versatile, cooperative and self-configuring.

Providing a guided tour of the pioneering work and major technical issues, Multiagent Robotic Systems addresses learning and adaptation in decentralized autonomous robots. Its systematic examination demonstrates the interrelationships between the autonomy of individual robots and the emerged global behavior properties of a group performing a cooperative task. The author also includes descriptions of the essential building blocks of the architecture of autonomous mobile robots with respect to their requirement on local behavioral conditioning and group behavioral evolution. After reading this book you will be able to fully appreciate the strengths and usefulness of various approaches in the development and application of multiagent robotic systems. It covers: Why and how to develop and experimentally test the computational mechanisms for learning and evolving sensory-motor control behaviors in autonomous robots How to design and develop evolutionary algorithm-based group behavioral learning mechanisms for the optimal emergence of group behaviors How to enable group robots to converge to a finite number of desirable task states through group learning What are the effects of the local learning mechanisms on the emergent global behaviors How to use decentralized, self-organizing autonomous robots to perform cooperative tasks in an unknown environment Earlier works have focused primarily on how to navigate in a spatially unknown environment, given certain predefined motion behaviors. What is missing, however, is an in-depth look at the important issues on how to effectively obtain such behaviors in group robots and how to enable behavioral learning and adaptation at the group level. Multiagent Robotic Systems examines the key methodological issues and gives you an understanding of the underlying computational models and techniques for multiagent systems.

This book is devoted to mechatronic, chemical, bacteriological, biological, and hybrid systems, utilizing cooperative, networked, swarm, self-organizing, evolutionary and bio-inspired design principles and targeting underwater, ground, air, and space applications. It addresses issues such as open-ended evolution, self-replication, self-development,

One of the most important problems in the field of engineering and technology is the development of so-called intelligent systems, which can perform various intellectual tasks. This book is dedicated to the current progress of research in this vast field and specifically explores the topics of robotics, mechatronics and manufacturing systems.

This book addresses both multi robot systems and miniaturization to the nanoscale from a unifying point of view, but without leaving aside typical particularities of either. The unifying aspect is based on the concept of information minimization whose precise formulation is the Haken-Levi-principle. The authors introduce basic concepts of multi-component self-organizing systems such as order parameters (well known from equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase transitions) and the slaving principle (which establishes a link to dynamical systems). Among explicit examples is the docking manoeuvre of two robots in two and three dimensions. The second part of the book deals with the rather recently arising field of molecular robotics. It is particularly here where nature has become a highly influential teacher for the construction of robots. In living biological cells astounding phenomena occur: there are molecules (proteins) that literally walk on polymer strands and transport loads that are heavier than their carriers, or molecules that, by joint action, contract muscles. The book provides the reader with an insight into these phenomena, especially by a detailed theoretical treatment of the molecular mechanism of muscle contraction. At the molecular level, for an appropriate approach the use of quantum theory is indispensable. The authors introduce and use it in a form that avoids all the clumsy calculations of wave-functions. They present a model which is based on an elementary version of quantum field theory and allows taking into account the impact of the surrounding on the quantum mechanical activity of a single molecule. By presenting explicit and pedagogical examples, the reader gets acquainted with the appropriate modelling of the walking behaviour of single molecular robots and their collective behaviour. The further development of multi-robot systems and particularly of molecular robots will require the cooperation of a variety of disciplines. Therefore the book appeals to a wide audience including researchers, instructors, and advanced graduate students.

The four-volume set LNCS 11244, 11245, 11246, and 11247 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation, ISoLA 2018, held in Limassol, Cyprus, in October/November 2018. The papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the proceedings. Each volume focusses on an individual topic with topical section headings within the volume: Part I, Modeling: Towards a unified view of modeling and programming; X-by-construction, STRESS 2018. Part II, Verification: A broader view on verification: from static to runtime and back; evaluating tools for software verification; statistical model checking; RERS 2018; doctoral symposium. Part III, Distributed Systems: rigorous engineering of collective adaptive systems; verification and validation of distributed systems; and cyber-physical systems engineering. Part IV, Industrial Practice: runtime verification from the theory to the industry practice; formal methods in industrial practice - bridging the gap; reliable smart contracts: state-of-the-art, applications, challenges and future directions; and industrial day.

How do we design a self-organizing system? Is it possible to validate and control non-deterministic dynamics? What is the right balance between the emergent patterns that bring robustness, adaptability and scalability, and the traditional need for verification and validation of the outcomes? The last several decades have seen much progress from original ideas of “emergent functionality” and “design for emergence”, to sophisticated mathematical formalisms of “guided self-organization”. And yet the main challenge remains, attracting the best scientific and engineering expertise to this elusive problem. This book presents state-of-the-practice of successfully engineered self-organizing systems, and examines ways to balance design and self-organization in the context of applications. As demonstrated in this second edition of Advances in Applied Self-Organizing Systems, finding this balance helps to deal with practical challenges as diverse as navigation of microscopic robots within blood vessels, self-monitoring aerospace vehicles, collective and modular robotics adapted for autonomous reconnaissance and surveillance, self-managing grids and multiprocessor scheduling, data visualization and self-modifying digital and analog circuitry, intrusion detection in computer networks, reconstruction of hydro-physical fields, traffic management, immunocomputing and nature-inspired computation. Many algorithms proposed and discussed in this volume are biologically inspired, and the reader will also gain an insight into cellular automata, genetic algorithms, artificial immune systems, snake-like locomotion, ant foraging, birds flocking, neuromorphic circuits, amongst others. Demonstrating the practical relevance and applicability of self-organization, Advances in Applied Self-Organizing Systems will be an invaluable tool for advanced students and researchers in a wide range of fields.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in industrial systems, especially in robotic manipulators and mobile robot systems. As the cost of robots goes down and become more compact, the number of industrial applications of robotic systems increases. Moreover, there is need to design industrial systems with intelligence, autonomous decision making capabilities, and self-diagnosing properties. Intelligent Industrial Systems: Modeling, Automation and Adaptive Behavior analyzes current trends in industrial systems design, such as intelligent, industrial, and mobile robotics, complex electromechanical systems, fault diagnosis and avoidance of critical conditions, optimization, and adaptive behavior. This book discusses examples from major areas of research for engineers and researchers, providing an extensive background on robotics and industrial systems with intelligence, autonomy, and adaptive behavior giving emphasis to industrial systems design.