An Overview of Blockchain-Based Swarm
Robotics System
Yanchang Du
(&) , Jiang Cao, Junsong Yin, and Shuang Song
PLA Academy of Military Science, Beijing 100091, China
duyanchang198@163.com, 48796447@qq.com
Abstract. As a disruptive technology, swarm robotics is developing everyday,
and attracts great attention. However, swarm robotics face some challenges
which hinder swarm robots from broader application. Blockchain technology
can provide a basic credible information environment of swarm robots, expand
its application. This paper discusses how blockchain technology can provide
benefits to swarm robotics, give a basic structure of swarm robots-oriented
blockchain conceptual model. Finally, limitations and possible future problems
that arise from the combination of these two technologies are described.
Keywords: Blockchain Á Swarm robots Á Information security Á Distributed
decision-making Á Behaviors collaboration
1 Introduction
Swarms robots is an autonomous system of multi-robots that acts in a self-organized
way. It is supposed that a desired collective behavior emerges from the interaction
between the robots and the interaction of robots with the environment [1]. Swarm
robotics roughly divides into two kinds of swarm: heterogeneous swarm and homogeneous swarm [2].
Usually swarm robotics doesn’t rely on any centralized node for communication,
collective decision-making, and collaboration. Autonomy, self-organization, high
redundancy are mainly characteristics of swarm robotics to make them have a strong
adaptability to severe and hostile environments, and have the potential to many
applications in target searching, geology survey, and complex military operation.
Swarm robots technology has been seen as a game-changing military power by US
military and will change the war form in the future.
But, as other distributed autonomous systems, swarm robotics face some challenges
in communication, information security, distributed decision-making, global
acknowledge collaborative behavior, which hinders swarm robots from broader
application. There is a critical need to develop a secured, trusted, and decentralized
architecture for swarm robotics.
As an emerging technology, blockchain has usually been seen as a tamper-proof
decentralized system used as database and computing platform, also can be seen as an
overlay network that can connect nodes to form a distributed network. It can ensure the
integrity, consistency, credibility of transaction data in untrustworthy and complex
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
Q. Liang et al. (Eds.): Artificial Intelligence in China, LNEE 572, pp. 353–360, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0187-6_41
Robotics System
Yanchang Du
(&) , Jiang Cao, Junsong Yin, and Shuang Song
PLA Academy of Military Science, Beijing 100091, China
duyanchang198@163.com, 48796447@qq.com
Abstract. As a disruptive technology, swarm robotics is developing everyday,
and attracts great attention. However, swarm robotics face some challenges
which hinder swarm robots from broader application. Blockchain technology
can provide a basic credible information environment of swarm robots, expand
its application. This paper discusses how blockchain technology can provide
benefits to swarm robotics, give a basic structure of swarm robots-oriented
blockchain conceptual model. Finally, limitations and possible future problems
that arise from the combination of these two technologies are described.
Keywords: Blockchain Á Swarm robots Á Information security Á Distributed
decision-making Á Behaviors collaboration
1 Introduction
Swarms robots is an autonomous system of multi-robots that acts in a self-organized
way. It is supposed that a desired collective behavior emerges from the interaction
between the robots and the interaction of robots with the environment [1]. Swarm
robotics roughly divides into two kinds of swarm: heterogeneous swarm and homogeneous swarm [2].
Usually swarm robotics doesn’t rely on any centralized node for communication,
collective decision-making, and collaboration. Autonomy, self-organization, high
redundancy are mainly characteristics of swarm robotics to make them have a strong
adaptability to severe and hostile environments, and have the potential to many
applications in target searching, geology survey, and complex military operation.
Swarm robots technology has been seen as a game-changing military power by US
military and will change the war form in the future.
But, as other distributed autonomous systems, swarm robotics face some challenges
in communication, information security, distributed decision-making, global
acknowledge collaborative behavior, which hinders swarm robots from broader
application. There is a critical need to develop a secured, trusted, and decentralized
architecture for swarm robotics.
As an emerging technology, blockchain has usually been seen as a tamper-proof
decentralized system used as database and computing platform, also can be seen as an
overlay network that can connect nodes to form a distributed network. It can ensure the
integrity, consistency, credibility of transaction data in untrustworthy and complex
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
Q. Liang et al. (Eds.): Artificial Intelligence in China, LNEE 572, pp. 353–360, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0187-6_41