Behavioral diversity as multiagent cooperation
Tucker R. Balch · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1999
In many cases cooperation between robots is implemented using explicit, perhaps complex, coordination protocols. However, research in behavior-based multirobot systems suggest that effective cooperative teams can be composed of agents using simple individual agent behaviors with limited or no communication. In this paper we prose behavioral diversity as an alternative cooperative strategy. Behavioral diversity refers to the extent to which agents for various components of the task. It is not always the case, however, that diversity is advantageous. Results of experiments in robotics soccer and multirobot foraging tasks indicate that the utility of diversity depends on the task. This paper describes behaviorally diverse solutions to these task and provides a comparison that suggests why some tasks are suited for behavioral diversity and others are not.