Comparison of a Real Kilobot Robot Implementation With its Computer Simulation Focussing on Target-Searching Algorithms

This paper presents the functionality and quality of the implementation of a search- and target-surrounding swarm robotic algorithm, which was developed and tested in the simulator V-REP, on actually running Kilobots. Ten Kilobots were used for the experiment where one Kilobot acts as target and nine Kilobots act as searchers. The algorithm allows the searchers to disperse to find the target, to avoid collisions with other searchers, to orbit other searchers, which are closer to the target, and to finally surround the target, once it is found. The results of the implementation using actual, real swarm robots are compared with the results of the computer simulation. Differences between simulation and real robot implementation are discussed. In particular, issues associated with the limitation in the Kilobots’ communication capability and their implications on the algorithm are investigated.