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One of the essential benefits of multi-robot systems is redundancy. In
case one robot breaks down, another robot can take steps to repair the
failed robot or take over the failed robot's task. Although fault
tolerance and robustness to individual failures have often been
central arguments in favor of multi-robot systems, few studies
have been dedicated to the subject. In this study, we take inspiration
from the synchronized flashing behavior observed in some species of
fireflies. We derive a completely distributed algorithm to detect
non-operational individuals in a multi-robot system. Each robot
flashes by lighting up its on-board LEDs and neighboring robots are
driven to flash in synchrony. Since robots that are suffering
catastrophic failures do not flash periodically, they can be detected
by operational robots. We explore the performance of the proposed
algorithm both on a real world multi-robot system and in
simulation. We show that failed robots are detected correctly and in a
timely manner, and we show that a system of robots with simulated
self-repair capabilities can survive relatively high failure rates.
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