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Pheromone Robotics
An Anonymous Coward writes: "This is the official text I just came across: "The HRL Pheromone Robotics program aims to provide a robust, scalable approach for coordinating actions of large numbers of small scale robots to achieve large scale results in surveillance, reconnaissance, hazard detection, path finding, payload conveyance, and small-scale actuation." But it's the spooky image that grabbed *me*..." Here's some more on the pheromone-sniffing robots pictured, and some more information about making robots that hunt in packs. The page has not been updated for a while, but it's worth seeing.
I'd never be able to escape those robots on a bad gas day....
When I saw the words "Pheromone" I instantly thought about robots which could smell. I could just see the blue screen of death now... "If you think I'm continuing without you wearing deodorant, you're dreaming!"
Ants are very simple creatures that working collectively in groups to accomplish fairly complicated tasks using mostly smell.
Modeling behavior along these lines and allowing simple creatures to relay very simple state messages with each robot repeating it to others would allow behavior and information to be propagated and acted on even in hostile situations. (Only short range communication is possible for instance.)
ie If the robots are searching for something and one finds the target it could alert the others around it and they could repeat the message and alter their behavior accordingly - if required. Eventually the alert would filter across all robots and reach "home" at which point a response could be propagated back to the successful creature the same way.
If your creatures are too simple there are limitations, however. If you put certain acids on ants other ants will assume they're dead - the smell trigger - and carry them to "dead ant" pile even if they're struggling. The "un-dead" ant will be carried back to the dead ant pile repeatedly until the smell wears off.
=tkk
Bill Gates - Creationist?!?
Pheromone Robotics
We are developing techniques for coordinating the actions of large numbers of small-scale robots to achieve useful large-scale results in surveillance, reconnaissance, hazard detection, and path finding. Inspired by the chemical markers used by insects for communication and coordination, we exploit the notion of a
"virtual pheromone," implemented using simple beacons and directional sensors mounted on each robot. Virtual pheromones facilitate simple communication and coordination and require little
on-board processing. Collections of robots will be able to perform complex tasks such as leading the way through a building to a hidden intruder or locating critical choke points. This is possible because the robot collective becomes a computing grid embedded in the environment. The user interface to this distributed robot collective is itself distributed. Instead of communicating with each robot individually, the entire collective works cooperatively to provide a unified world-embedded display. Our methods need no explicit maps or models of the environment, and require no explicit knowledge of robot locations yet they still allow such global quantities as shortest routes, blocked routes, and contingency plans to be computed by the robot population.
So the moral of the story is...Don't rub steak all over yourself.
This makes me wonder if robot hunting might become a new "sport". You know the classic scenario of many villains wanting to hunt humans because they're the only game that's difficult enough to bring down. Maybe we'll hear about a new kind of high-class robot safari? Heh, then we can all be evil-eccentrics without the guilt, or the evil...
--I hate big sigs.
Imagine hacking these robots just by farting near a swarm of them ;)
Israel A. Wagner's home page about Ants, Robots and Computation is here and it's a great and interesting compilation of data on this topic. Absolutely recommended.
For more information on the ability to accomplish complicated tasks with simple rules take a look at this book The Computational Beauty of Nature.
Very informative book, lots of good explanations, diagrams, and the code for his software is available on the website. As a plus he seems to have written the book using free software which he acknowledges at the end of the book). His programs run under linux. He has some very well done graphics (even some dual-image stereograms) which were created with gunplot. I highly recommend this book.
Now if only Tom Ridge could figure out which end is up...
And Bush would come clean about the "pretzel" incident.
I thought we already had pheromone-seeking robots. There called girls.
Watch out for those scent-tracking mechanical hounds.... Run, Montag, run!
1:9/-1:63! Way to go fellas!
From Count Zero: "They set a slamhound on Turner's trail in New Dehli, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair. It caught up with him on a street called Chandni Chauk and came scrambling for his rented BMW through a forest of bare brown legs and pedicab tires. Its core was a kilogram of recrystallized hexogene and flaked TNT." Sleep sweet, everybody...
Is Ray Bradbury psychic, or what? I mean, think about it: that book was written 50, 60 years ago, and it's still pertinent today. Just about the only thing that was off was the year the story took place-- 1990. But apparently, it was only off by about 15-20, because we could be living in that story in about 5-10 years, I'd say. *shudders* Really makes you think!
BTW, if you haven't read the book yet, READ IT!!
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Here's a section from the article that explains basically what I just tried to explain.
I don't mean to be flame bating or anything, I just thought the writeup was a bit confusing/misleading...that or I'm just an idiot and didn't understand what they submitter meant.
Ugh..Here we go again...
The HRL Pheromone *DING* Robotics program *DING* aims to provide a robust *DING* , scalable *DING* approach for coordinating actions of large numbers of small scale robots *DING* to achieve large scale results in surveillance *DING* , reconnaissance *DING* , hazard detection *DING* , path finding *DING* , payload *DING* conveyance *DING* , and small-scale actuation *DING* *DING* *DING* . We intend to accomplish this by developing innovative *DING* concepts for coordinating *DING* , and interacting *DING* with, a large
collective *DING* of tiny robots *DING* . Borrowing techniques used by ants and termites *DING* , our robots exhibit emergent *DING* collaboration *DING* . Inspired *DING* by the chemical markers *DING* used by these insects for communication *DING* and coordination *DING* , we exploit *DING* the notion of a "virtual *DING* pheromone," *DING*
implemented *DING* using simple beacons *DING* and directional sensors *DING* mounted on each robot. Virtual *DING* pheromones *DING* facilitate *DING* simple communication *DING* and coordination *DING* and require little on-board *DING* processing. Our approach is applicable to future robots with much smaller form factors (e.g., to dust-particle size) (hah, yeah right-- *DING* )and is scaleable *DING* to large, heterogeneous *DING* groups of robots.
We plan to provide robustness *DING* by requiring no explicit *DING* maps or models of the environment, and no explicit knowledge "explicit knowledge? What, the robots watch porn movies? *DING* of robot location. Collections of robots will be able to perform complex tasks *DING* such as leading the way through a building to a hidden intruder *DING* or locating critical choke points. *DING* This is possible because the
robot collective *DING* will become a computing grid *DING* embedded *DING* within
the environment *DING* while acting as a physical embodiment *DING* of the user interface What the FUCK are you talking about? *DING* . Over the past decades, the literature on path planning and terrain analysis *DING* has dealt primarily with algorithms *DING* operating on an internal map containing terrain
features. Our approach externalizes *DING* the map, spreading it across a collection *DING* of simple processors *DING* , each of which determines the terrain features in its locality *DING* . The terrain processing algorithms *DING* of interest are then spread over the population of simple processors *DING* , allowing such global *DING* quantities *DING* as shortest routes, blocked routes, and contingency *DING* plans to be computed by the population.
The user interface *DING* to this distributed robot collective *DING* *DING*
*DING* is itself distributed *DING* . Instead of communicating with each robot individually, the entire collective will work cooperatively *DING* to provide a unified *DING* display *DING* embedded *DING* in the environment *DING* . For example, robots that have dispersed themselves throughout a building will be able to guide a user toward an intruder by synchronizing *DING* to collectively blink
in a marquee-style *DING* pattern to highlight the shortest path to the intruder. Through the use of augmented *DING* reality *DING* , robots will be able to present more complex displays *DING* . Users wearing a see-through *DING* head-mounted *DING* display and a head-mounted *DING* camera that detects and tracks infrared *DING* beacons emanating *DING* from the robots will
be able to see a small amount of information superimposed *DING* over each robot. Each robot will, in effect, be
a pixel *DING* that paints *DING* information upon its local environment. The combination of this
world-embedded *DING* interface *DING* with our world-embedded *DING* computation means that the results of complex *DING* distributed *DING* computations *DING* can
be mapped *DING* directly onto the world with no intermediate *DING* representations *DING*
required.
I think I broke my dinger.
Bowie J. Poag
that's just nasty....
it's also not true.. fucktard.
Basically its a ton of cameras.
Use visual recognition to detect stuff like troop movements....
Or just use cameras+ human watching + set coordinates already.
Picture vietnam movies, with the guy radioing for a mortar strike.
Now picture no one in harm's way, but the cameras and coordinates for mortar strikes are at Mr. God's hands.
Later: Camera + visual recognition = Missle Guidence system
Later: Camera + High powered AA guns + some elementary physics = anti aircraft guns
But here's the kicker... If you network ALL the cameras, so you know information everywhere, then you can calculate things better...
Its like automagic driven cars, the more networked, the more you see around JOE BOB in his big ol truck... Because of networking alerts you to whats around it... The more you know.
God spoke to me
A Microsoft gag in a story about pheromones! You, sir, are history's greatest comedian.
Comrade, I do have right to do this, and here's why: the editors will never post a story about slashdot sickness, that feeling that comes along after reading too much FUD and not enough FACTs. Telling someone to wait for an approved forum for their complaint, when no such forum does or ever will exist, is hypocritical, to say the least.
To bitch that all the posts where moded down for being off topic when they all where in fact, off topic, makes your complaint on the matter baseless.
And your post is therefore "baseless" as well, because it's off topic. QED.
K5... is a different type of forum...
Which "difference" are you referring to, the blue color scheme or the different editors? I think I can learn to live with both.
Blame Adequacy!
...The U.S. have sent them after President Jiang Zemin already, look out!
The idea for the pack hunter sounds like a basic neural network with BEAM robotics. You can get a fairly good idea what BEAM(Biological, Electronic, Aesthetic, and Mechanical) is all about at http://www.solarbotics.net .
Basically, the philosophy of BEAM is that all robotics can be made from imitating the form of nature, and all can be made from the same basic components. You start by replicating single cell organisms and insects, and eventually progress to neural networks. The cool thing about BEAM robots is that they're entirely automated. You don't have to program their behavior, they works by "instinct."
If you want to make your own BEAM robots, just read some of the tutorials on http://www.solarbotics.net . Just don't be tempted to start with a complex robot. The idea behind BEAM robotics is to start simple, and work to complex. All you will need to start is a basic understanding of electronics and some cheap electronic components, which can usually be found at RadioShack(or by tearing apart old household appliances.)
I have no desire to reach nirvana.
Du kannst mich mal am arsh lecken!
... helping the US be more of an automated imperialist. This may be clever, but even if it is, it makes me sad that in a country with so many problems, some of our greatest minds are used to create smarter tools to kill and opress.
The insect/pheromone analog functioned more as a metaphor than anything. The underlying engineering seemed to be a rehash of the old digital/analogue information 'theory'. Nothing new but old sci-fi allusions.
heuristic algorithm seeks stochastic relationship
The "pheromone" business is no big deal. That's how creatures too dumb to make maps mark their world. The territory is the map.
Can you imagine a cluster of these babies!?
I never thought that would actually come up seriously.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
gerne (linux sux)
Quote "But it's the spooky image that grabbed *me*..."
Yeah, a picture of little robots is real spooky. I bet this guy's shadow gives him a heart attack.
I am aware of this project quite a long time, since I'm working on a similar project called "Swarm-Bots" [web site www.swarm-bots.org]. According to me their use of the term "pheromone" is not more than a catchy adjective to label their work. The research, as displayed on their web site, does not take many ideas from the ethological studies of ant colonies. For instance the robots communicate directly with each other, NOT through the environment, which is what ants use pheromone for. To me, it is merely an integration of the dynamic programming technique with mobile robots coupled with VR display interface. For those new to the subject, there is a new approach, called "swarm intelligence" that aims to create intelligent systems from a group of distributed simple agents. An excellent description of this approach is available in the "Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems By Eric Bonabeau, Marco Dorigo, and Guy Theraulaz" . In this approach, the agents communicate through the environment, called stigmergy, to achieve group level tasks. There is no centralized control, yet the whole system is very scalable and robust. I hope to report some news on the progress of the Swarm-Bots soon.
.. what those little shoebox-sized black robots in
Star Wars were doing.. Now I know: checking up on Stormtrooper B.O.!
Anyone remember the character in Gibson's Idoru who could tell people apart by their cyberspace footprint? PackHunter seems to make me think of this. Targetted marketing anyone?
Haha, good one. I hope you did this.
-Metrollica
are both good, but they both smell. Or osmething? the paohs thing about teh open sarcs
asource opened source???
Feed The Sponge
So you know, the HRL webpage has been updated.
She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue.
Totally agree with you bud. But I have a feeling this will get modded down worse as well.