Convoying: using chorusing to form travelling groups of minimal agents

摘要

We have previously used a biologically-inspired chorusing mechanism to control group size in an environment containing many simulated minimal agents. We now modify the technique to produce travelling groups of a particular size (convoys). An agent in a group of the desired size enters a primed state, emits a signal after a delay, and at the end of the signal moves off to the next destination; other agents in the neighbourhood which are in the primed state and detect the signal also move off at thesame time, forming a group. Several such travelling groups in succession can be produced.