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arXiv · 1803.06026

Influence of Sensorial Delay on Clustering and Swarming

Rafal Piwowarczyk·Martin Selin·Thomas Ihle·Giovanni Volpe
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Abstract

We show that sensorial delay alters the collective motion of self-propelling agents with aligning interactions: In a two-dimensional Vicsek model, short delays enhance the emergence of clusters and swarms, while long or negative delays prevent their formation. In order to quantify this phenomenon, we introduce a global clustering parameter based on the Voronoi tessellation, which permits us to efficiently measure the formation of clusters. Thanks to its simplicity, sensorial delay might already play a role in the organization of living organisms and can provide a powerful tool to engineer and dynamically tune the behavior of large ensembles of autonomous robots.

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Rafal Piwowarczyk, Martin Selin, Thomas Ihle, Giovanni Volpe. 2018-03-15. Influence of Sensorial Delay on Clustering and Swarming. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.100.012607

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