This paper proposes a novel methodology for addressing the simulation-reality gap for multi-robot swarm systems. Rather than immediately try to shrink or `bridge the gap' anytime a real-world experiment failed that worked in simulation, we characterize conditions under which this is actually necessary. When these conditions are not satisfied, we show how very simple simulators can still be used to both (i) design new multi-robot systems, and (ii) guide real-world swarming experiments towards certain emergent behaviors when the gap is very large. The key ideas are an iterative simulator-in-the-design-loop in which real-world experiments, simulator modifications, and simulated experiments are intimately coupled in a way that minds the gap without needing to shrink it, as well as the use of minimally viable phase diagrams to guide real world experiments. We demonstrate the usefulness of our methods on deploying a real multi-robot swarm system to successfully exhibit an emergent milling behavior.
翻译:本文提出了解决多机器人群体系统模拟-现实差距的新方法。 我们不是立即试图缩小或“缩小差距 ”, 也不是在模拟中实际世界实验失败时立即尝试缩小或“缩小差距 ”, 而是描述在哪些条件下确实有必要这样做。 当这些条件不能满足时, 我们展示了如何非常简单的模拟器仍然可以用于以下两方面:(一) 设计新的多机器人系统,以及(二) 指导现实世界的升温实验,在这种差距非常大时,将某些新出现的行为引向现实世界的升温实验。 关键思想是一个迭代模拟器- 在设计- loop中, 真实世界的实验、模拟器的修改和模拟实验以一种不需缩小这种差距的方式, 以及使用最起码可行的阶段图来指导真实的世界实验。 我们展示了我们部署一个真正的多机器人群体系统的方法的效用, 以成功展示一种新兴的磨练行为。