> The main advantages are that you don’t need an internet connection
To that end, I'm not clear on benefit in this model. To solve that problem I would just take a centralized framework and stick it inside an oversized drone/vehicle capable of carrying the added weight (in CPU, battery, etc.). There are several centralized models that don't require an external data connection
> the resources on the robots, which are idle otherwise, are used
But what's the benefit of this? I don't see the use case of needing the swarm to perform lots of calculations beyond the ones required for it's own navigation & communication with others. I suppose I could imagine a chain of these 'idle' drones acting as a communication relay between two separate, active hives. But the benefit there seems marginal.
> our system also don’t rely on such central point of failure
This seems like the primary upside, and it's a big one. I'm imagining a disaster or military situation where natural or human forces could be trying to disable the hive. Now instead of knocking out a single mothership ATV - each and every drone need to be removed to full disable it. Big advantage.
> We are just currently working on a “group” abstraction
Makes sense to me. That's the 'value add', might as well really spec that out
> leader election to determine a “mothership” among the group
This seems perfectly reasonable to me and doesn't remove the advantages of the disconnected "hive". But I do find it funny that the solution to decentralization seems to be simply having the centralization move around easily / flexibly. It's not a hive of peers, it's a hive of temporary kings.
To that end, I'm not clear on benefit in this model. To solve that problem I would just take a centralized framework and stick it inside an oversized drone/vehicle capable of carrying the added weight (in CPU, battery, etc.). There are several centralized models that don't require an external data connection
> the resources on the robots, which are idle otherwise, are used
But what's the benefit of this? I don't see the use case of needing the swarm to perform lots of calculations beyond the ones required for it's own navigation & communication with others. I suppose I could imagine a chain of these 'idle' drones acting as a communication relay between two separate, active hives. But the benefit there seems marginal.
> our system also don’t rely on such central point of failure
This seems like the primary upside, and it's a big one. I'm imagining a disaster or military situation where natural or human forces could be trying to disable the hive. Now instead of knocking out a single mothership ATV - each and every drone need to be removed to full disable it. Big advantage.
> We are just currently working on a “group” abstraction
Makes sense to me. That's the 'value add', might as well really spec that out
> leader election to determine a “mothership” among the group
This seems perfectly reasonable to me and doesn't remove the advantages of the disconnected "hive". But I do find it funny that the solution to decentralization seems to be simply having the centralization move around easily / flexibly. It's not a hive of peers, it's a hive of temporary kings.