Waggle-Dance-Inspired Multi-UAV Recruitment with RGB and Synthetic Event Vision
Organizations: School of Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Abstract
The honeybee waggle dance motivates a communication mechanism in which one agent's motion guides the subsequent work of other agents. For aerial robots, realizing this mechanism requires a link from observed movement to a complete message, local task selection, and execution. This paper presents a MuJoCo system for comparing RGB and synthetic event vision within that link. One performer broadcasts six-bit task offers to one to three observers, each of which independently decodes both offers before selecting a task. The RGB receiver extracts trajectories using sparse optical flow; the event receiver uses only local event support and packet timing. Both use a common motion alphabet and explicit null delimiters. Because event silence does not establish target visibility, the event version includes a physical acquisition motion and continuity-qualified null confirmation. In the nominal three-observer case, each version produced 12 complete message receptions, six completed work units, and reassignment after withdrawal of a depleted task. Six paired functional cases produced the same message and work counts; an additional event-stream dropout case preserved inactivity of the affected observer. Replaying 42,060,633 recorded synthetic events reproduced all 12 event-message payloads and completion timestamps. Total nominal mission time was 493.80 s for RGB and 517.40 s for events, with the difference dominated by the event acquisition schedule. These fixed simulation results establish functional feasibility across two receiver implementations, rather than a sensor-performance advantage or hardware validation.
Figures & tables
| Setting | RGB | Synthetic events |
|---|---|---|
| Image resolution | ||
| Source / receiver rate | 25 / 25 Hz | 100 / 25 Hz |
| Trajectory measurement | Robust KLT displacement | Local event-support center |
| Minimum path support | 12 points, 28 px span | 12 points, 28 px span |
| Best-template error limit | 0.17 | 0.21 |
| Runner-up error margin | 0.075 | 0.065 |
| Complete messages | Work units | Time (s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | RGB | Events | RGB | Events | RGB | Events |
| 1 observer | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 451.56 | 475.16 |
| 2 observers | 4/4 | 4/4 | 4 | 4 | 463.16 | 486.76 |
| 3 observers | 4/4/4 | 4/4/4 | 6 | 6 | 493.80 | 517.40 |
| O2 black input | 4/0/4 | 4/0/4 | 4 | 4 | 454.48 | 478.08 |
| No broadcast | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 15.04 | 15.04 |
| Measurement | RGB | Synthetic events |
|---|---|---|
| First offer broadcast start | 5.002 | 16.850 |
| Offer start to final NULL , observed range | 95.570–95.638 | 95.520–95.590 |
| Latest final reception | 448.000 | 471.600 |
| Latest reception to mission completion | 45.800 | 45.800 |
| Total mission duration | 493.800 | 517.400 |
Multi-Robot Systems
Multi-robot systems coordinate teams of robots to plan, perceive, communicate, and act together in shared tasks and environments.
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