Swarm robotics: a review from the swarm engineering perspective <s> Swarm engineering <s> This review paper sets out to explore the question of how future complex engineered systems based upon the swarm intelligence paradigm could be assured for dependability. The paper introduces the new concept of ‘swarm engineering': a fusion of dependable systems engineering and swarm intelligence. The paper reviews the disciplines and processes conventionally employed to assure the dependability of conventional complex (and safety critical) systems in the light of swarm intelligence research and in so doing tries to map processes of analysis, design and test for safety-critical systems against relevant research in swarm intelligence. A case study of a swarm robotic system is used to illustrate this mapping. The paper concludes that while some of the tools needed to assure a swarm for dependability exist, many do not, and hence much work needs to be done before dependable swarms become a reality. <s> BIB001 </s> Swarm robotics: a review from the swarm engineering perspective <s> Swarm engineering <s> Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and illustrate the development of a methodology for generating swarms using lossless flocking.Design/methodology/approach – A general methodology for swarm design is described. Examples of this approach in the literature are examined. A general requirement for lossless flocking is developed. The requirement is used in developing two swarm behaviors.Findings – It is possible to apply the approach to the lossless flocking and to use the swarm condition to develop two swarm behaviors which satisfy this condition in many situations.Research limitations/implications – This paper illustrates the general swarm engineering method and demonstrates how it can be properly applied.Originality/value – The swarm engineering method is used to develop the “quark” model, a new physicomimetic model. <s> BIB002
Swarm engineering is the systematic application of scientific and technical knowledge to model and specify requirements, design, realize, verify, validate, operate, and maintain a swarm intelligence system. Swarm engineering as a term was introduced by BIB002 , who recognized that the focus of swarm intelligence research is moving towards "the design of predictable, controllable swarms with well-defined global goals and provable minimal conditions". He also adds that "to the swarm engineer, the important points in the design of a swarm are that the swarm will do precisely what it is designed to do, and that it will do so reliably and on time" BIB002 . However, the first work to formally introduce swarm engineering was published only five years later, with the seminal paper by BIB001 . Swarm engineering is still in a very early stage and its development is not homogeneous. On the one hand, some topics, such as design and analysis, have already received attention from the swarm robotics community and several methodologies and tools have been proposed. For these topics, our goal is to present and classify the existing works. On the Fig. 1 The two taxonomies proposed in this review other hand, other topics, such as requirements analysis, maintenance and performance measurement, have received almost no attention. In the last section of this review, we propose a discussion of these topics with the hope to foster new ideas and promote their development. As we take a swarm engineering perspective, our review covers works that contributed to the advancement of swarm robotics as a field of engineering. In particular, we focus on ideas and solutions that promote the application of swarm robotics to real-world applications.