Abstract
This paper proposes a gradual formation of a spatial pattern for a homogeneous system. The autonomous formation of spatial pattern is important for the advancement of cooperative robotic systems because pattern formation can be regarded as function differentiation of multi-agent system. When multiple autonomous robots cooperatively work on an assigned local task for a global objective like a group of insects or animals, the function differentiation is the first step and indispensable. There were a lot of papers that reported spatial pattern formation of multiple robots, but global information was supposed to be available in their approaches. It is, however, almost impossible for a small robot to be equipped with an advanced sensing system for global information because of robot's scale and sensor. The algorism for complicated pattern formation is needed even if each robot is not so comparative. We therefore propose a gradual pattern formation algorithm, i.e., the group of robots changes their pattern to goal pattern through a simple pattern like a line or a circle. Then we use the Turing Instability theory based only on local information for polygon pattern formation from circle pattern, and experimentally show the formation of several patterns with multiple autonomous robots.
