Experiments in automatic flock control

The Robot Sheepdog Project has developed a mobile robot that gathers a flock of ducks and manoeuvres them safely to a specified goal position. This is the first example of a robot system that exploits and controls an animal’s behaviour to achieve a useful task. A potential-field model of flocking be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Robotics and autonomous systems 2000-04, Vol.31 (1), p.109-117
Main Authors: Vaughan, Richard, Sumpter, Neil, Henderson, Jane, Frost, Andy, Cameron, Stephen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal interaction
Flock control
Flock model
Robot sheepdog
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Summary:The Robot Sheepdog Project has developed a mobile robot that gathers a flock of ducks and manoeuvres them safely to a specified goal position. This is the first example of a robot system that exploits and controls an animal’s behaviour to achieve a useful task. A potential-field model of flocking behaviour was constructed and used to investigate methods for generalised flock control. One possible algorithm is described and demonstrated to work both in simulation and in the real world.
ISSN:0921-8890
1872-793X
DOI:10.1016/S0921-8890(99)00084-6