Manipulation of the entire group navigation based on dynamic goal-preference switching

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a brand-new navigation strategy for artificial creatures, such as autonomous mobile robots. The novelty of our proposed method is in group decision-making, based on majority consensus and dynamic switching of individual goal-preferences. First, we introduce a group model with three subpopulations: one subgroup is designed to have the preference of one goal, and the second subgroup is designed to have the preference of another goal. However, the third subgroup (i.e., normal-type robots) is designed to only herd nearby robots. This paper focuses on the role of the normal-type robots and their challenges in controlling the entire group’s destination when giving them goal preferences. For this purpose, we examine the magnitude of goal-preference addition to the third subgroup and the proportion of normal-type robots for the entire group. Throughout our statistical analysis, our results indicate group navigation was successful when there were appropriate settings and dynamic goal-preference additions for a small number of normal-type robots.