engleski

Assisi Playground: A simulation tool for collective bio-hybrid system research

This paper presents ASSISI Playground, a simulator for facilitating research in the area of collective bio-hybrid systems. Its development is motivated by the specific use-case of simulating bio-hybrid societies consisting of honeybees and static robotic units called CASUs (Combined Actuator-Sensor Units). However, due to its modular design, the simulator can easily be extended to other animal species and other types of robot. The distinguishing features of the software are the ability to simulate societies consisting of hundreds of individuals in real time, behaviour of individuals implemented in Python scripts that can be easily modified and extended by the user, and the ability to directly transfer controllers from simulated to real robots. Furthermore, the simulator implements several modalities of physical interaction that are not typically provided by conventional simulation frameworks but highly relevant to bio-hybrid research, including vibrations, airflow and heat transfer. In the paper, we describe the simulator architecture, provide implementation details for the physical interaction modalities and present two examples which demonstrate the usability of the simulator.

simulation; collective adaptive systems; bio-hybrid systems

nije evidentirano