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Related papers: Emergent Strategies for Shepherding a Flock

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Shepherding involves herding a swarm of agents (\emph{sheep}) by another a control agent (\emph{sheepdog}) towards a goal. Multiple approaches have been documented in the literature to model this behaviour. In this paper, we present a…

We apply genetic programming techniques to the `shepherding' problem, in which a group of one type of animal (sheep dogs) attempts to control the movements of a second group of animals (sheep) obeying flocking behavior. Our genetic…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2016-03-22 Joshua Brulé , Kevin Engel , Nick Fung , Isaac Julien

The problem of guiding a flock of agents to a destination by the repulsion forces exerted by a smaller number of external agents is called the shepherding problem. This problem has attracted attention due to its potential applications,…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2022-10-21 Anna Fujioka , Masaki Ogura , Naoki Wakamiya

The problem of guiding a flock of several autonomous agents using repulsion force exerted by a smaller number of agents is called the shepherding problem and has been attracting attention due to its potential engineering applications.…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2023-04-11 Anna Fujioka , Masaki Ogura , Naoki Wakamiya

The shepherding problem refers to guiding a group of agents (called sheep) to a specific destination using an external agent with repulsive forces (called shepherd). Although various movement algorithms for the shepherd have been explored…

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems · Physics 2023-06-22 Yaosheng Deng , Aiyi Li , Masaki Ogura , Naoki Wakamiya

In this paper, we consider the swarm-control problem of spatially separating a specified target agent within the swarm from all the other agents, while maintaining the connectivity among the other agents. We specifically aim to achieve the…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-09-21 Yaosheng Deng , Masaki Ogura , Aiyi Li , Naoki Wakamiya

Robotic shepherding problem considers the control and navigation of a group of coherent agents (e.g., a flock of bird or a fleet of drones) through the motion of an external robot, called shepherd. Machine learning based methods have…

Robotics · Computer Science 2020-05-20 Jixuan Zhi , Jyh-Ming Lien

This paper presents a novel control strategy for multi-agent shepherding of non-cohesive targets in obstacle-rich environments. Unlike previous approaches that assume cohesive flocking behavior, our method handles targets that interact only…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-04-27 Cinzia Tomaselli , Stefano Covone , Andreagiovanni Reina , Mario di Bernardo

Designing systems for autonomous transport of groups of living agents has received a lot of attention in recent years due to a wealth of important potential applications. Biomimetic approaches are often sought, and a range of herding…

Other Quantitative Biology · Quantitative Biology 2026-02-20 Daniel Strömbom , Julianna Hoitt , Cameron Cloud

We study the shepherding control problem where a group of "herders" need to orchestrate their collective behaviour in order to steer the dynamics of a group of "target" agents towards a desired goal. We relax the strong assumptions of…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-02-22 Andrea Lama , Mario di Bernardo

Robotic shepherding is a bio-inspired approach to autonomously guiding a swarm of agents towards a desired location. The research area has earned increasing research interest recently due to the efficacy of controlling a large number of…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-11-18 Jing Liu , Hemant Singh , Saber Elsayed , Robert Hunjet , Hussein Abbass

Collective migration of cells and animals often relies on a specialised set of "leaders", whose role is to steer a population of naive followers towards some target. We formulate a continuous model to understand the dynamics and structure…

Populations and Evolution · Quantitative Biology 2021-02-10 Sara Bernardi , Raluca Eftimie , Kevin J. Painter

We present a decentralized reinforcement learning (RL) approach to address the multi-agent shepherding control problem, departing from the conventional assumption of cohesive target groups. Our two-layer control architecture consists of a…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-01-29 Italo Napolitano , Andrea Lama , Francesco De Lellis , Mario di Bernardo

In this paper, we address the large-scale shepherding control problem using a continuification-based strategy. We consider a scenario in which a large group of follower agents (targets) must be confined within a designated goal region…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-11-08 Beniamino Di Lorenzo , Gian Carlo Maffettone , Mario di Bernardo

Swarm control is a difficult problem due to the need to guide a large number of agents simultaneously. We cast the problem as a shepherding problem, similar to biological dogs guiding a group of sheep towards a goal. The shepherd needs to…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2019-03-25 Alexander Gee , Hussein Abbass

The simultaneous control of multiple coordinated robotic agents represents an elaborate problem. If solved, however, the interaction between the agents can lead to solutions to sophisticated problems. The concept of swarming, inspired by…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-08-13 Nathan K Long , Karl Sammut , Daniel Sgarioto , Matthew Garratt , Hussein Abbass

We introduce a multi-agent model for exploring how selection of neighbours determines some aspects of order and cohesion in swarms. The model algorithm states that every agents' motion seeks for an optimal distance from the nearest…

Quantitative Methods · Quantitative Biology 2014-05-13 A. M. Calvão , E. Brigatti

In this paper, we consider the problem of protecting a high-value area from being breached by sheep agents by crafting motions for dog robots. We use control barrier functions to pose constraints on the dogs' velocities that induce…

Robotics · Computer Science 2023-03-07 Nishant Mohanty , Jaskaran Grover , Changliu Liu , Katia Sycara

Swarm guidance addresses a challenging problem considering the navigation and control of a group of passive agents. To solve this problem, shepherding offers a bio-inspired technique of navigating such group of agents by using external…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-05-18 Aiyi Li , Masaki Ogura , Naoki Wakamiya

This paper investigates decentralized shepherding in cluttered environments, where a limited number of herders must guide a larger group of non-cohesive, diffusive targets toward a goal region in the presence of static obstacles. A…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-11-27 Cristiana Punzo , Italo Napolitano , Cinzia Tomaselli , Mario di Bernardo
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