Study of group food retrieval by ants as a model for multi-robot collective transport strategies

Group food retrieval in some ant species serves as a useful paradigm for multi-robot collective transport strategies that are decentralized, scalable, and do not require a priori information about the payload. We investigate this phenomenon in Aphaenogaster cockerelli in order to extract the ants' roles during transport, the rules that govern their actions, and the individual forces that they apply to guide a food item to their nest. To measure these forces, we designed and fabricated elastic structures with calibrated stiffness properties, induced ants to retrieve the structures, and tracked the resulting deformations with a camera. We then developed a hybrid system model of the ant behaviors that were observed in the experiments. We conducted simulations of the behavioral model that incorporate a quasi-static model of planar manipulation with compliant attachment points. Our simulations qualitatively replicate individual ant activity as well as certain macroscopic features of the transport.