Simulating Swarm Behaviour of Robots

We describe simple simulation models of collective swarm behaviour of simple robots. We have experimented with mixed avoidance and seeking behaviour using triwheeled robots using simple ultrasonic proximity sensors. Our model assumes a radial distance of attraction or repulsion and supports multiple species in the swarm based on sensor recognition protocols. We describe the surprising success of our model in predicting the gross and statistical behaviour of our swarm and discuss limitations and potential improvements to the model. We also discuss scaling experiments to large swarm sizes. We also speculate on thermal physics model analogies to the swarm and how these can be parameterised.