Skip to main content
Dryad

Robot swarms neutralize harmful Byzantine robots using a blockchain-based token economy

Strobel, Volker1; Pacheco, Alexandre1; Dorigo, Marco1

Published Jun 21, 2023; Updated Jan 09, 2024 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnj3

Data files

Jun 21, 2023 version files 1.27 GB
Jan 09, 2024 version files 1.27 GB

Abstract

Through cooperation, robot swarms can perform tasks or solve problems that a single robot from the swarm could not perform/solve by itself. However, it has been shown that a single Byzantine robot (e.g., a malfunctioning or malicious robot) can disrupt the coordination strategy of the entire swarm. Therefore, a versatile swarm robotics framework that addresses security issues in inter-robot communication and coordination is urgently needed. In this paper, we show that security issues can be addressed by setting up a token economy between the robots. To create and maintain the token economy, we use blockchain technology, originally developed for the digital currency Bitcoin. The robots are given crypto tokens that allow them to participate in the swarm's security-critical activities. The token economy is regulated via a smart contract that decides how to distribute crypto tokens among the robots depending on their contributions. We design the smart contract so that Byzantine robots soon run out of crypto tokens and can therefore no longer influence the rest of the swarm. In experiments with up to 24 physical robots, we demonstrate that our smart contract approach indeed works: the robots can maintain blockchain networks and a blockchain-based token economy can be used to neutralize the destructive actions of Byzantine robots in a collective-sensing scenario. In experiments with more than 100 simulated robots, we study the scalability and long-term behavior of our approach. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility and viability of blockchain-based swarm robotics.