A geometric condition for robot-swarm cohesion and cluster-flock transition
Soft Condensed Matter
2025-09-17 v2 Materials Science
Statistical Mechanics
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Applied Physics
Abstract
We present a geometric design rule for size-controlled clustering of self-propelled particles. We show that active particles that tend to rotate under an external force have an intrinsic, signed parameter with units of curvature which we call curvity, that can be derived from first principles. Experiments with robots and numerical simulations show that properties of individual robots (radius and curvity) control pair cohesion in a binary system, and the stability of flocking and self-limiting clustering in a swarm, with applications in meta-materials and in embodied decentralized control.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2409.04618,
title = {A geometric condition for robot-swarm cohesion and cluster-flock transition},
author = {Mathias Casiulis and Eden Arbel and Charlotte van Waes and Yoav Lahini and Stefano Martiniani and Naomi Oppenheimer and Matan Yah Ben Zion},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.04618},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
7 pages, 5 figures SI: 13 pages, 4 figures Ancillary files: 9 videos