Blockchain technology for robot swarms: A shared knowledge and reputation management system for collective estimation.

This repository contains the code for the paper:

V.Strobel, M. Dorigo. 2018. Blockchain technology for robot swarms: A shared knowledge and reputation management system for collective estimation.

Submitted to ANTS 2018 — Eleventh International Conference on Swarm Intelligence.

A pre-print is available at:
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/IridiaTrSeries/

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate how a blockchain can be used as shared
knowledge medium, computing platform, and reputation management system
in robot swarms. We show that a swarm of robots can collectively
determine the relative frequency of environmental features via
blockchain-based smart contracts (decentralized protocols executed via
blockchain technology). Consensus in the swarm is achieved in a fully
decentralized way without the need of an external observer. Via the
presented reputation management system residing on the blockchain, the
impact of malfunctioning robots (Byzantine robots) can be managed. We
conducted three experiments using a robot swarm simulator, showing (i)
the feasibility of the approach, (ii) the trade-off between blockchain
size and accuracy, and (iii) the suitability of the blockchain as a
reputation management system.