Trophallaxis-inspired self-organized task exchange in heterogeneous swarms

A trophallaxis-inspired method for self-organized task exchange in a swarm of autonomous, movable, and recon-figurable agents is proposed. Two agents that meet each other can exchange tasks with each other such that each one receives tasks that fit better to its current configuration. This reduces the energy needed for reconfiguration in order to execute the received tasks. It is investigated how an increase in the speed of moving of an agent can increase its chances for getting better tasks because of a higher frequency of meetings with other agents. An interesting trade-off is studied between getting better tasks when moving faster but losing more energy for the movement. Static scenarios where the agents spent a constant fraction of their energy on movement as well as dynamic scenarios are considered and evaluated by extensive simulations.