Collective decisions

Goal

Reach consensus: What is the most frequent color?

Problems

• Noise
• Asynchronicity
• Stochasticity
• Absence of global information/trusted third parties
• AND malicious intruders/failing sensors

Approach

• Define initial swarm (e.g., 10 trusted members)
• Each robot has initial opinion (one of the colors)
• Robots move arbitrarily on the map
• Robots have three functions: Sense, disseminate, receive

FAQ =

Q: Why would the robots keep the blockchain running?

• While the incentive to keep the blockchain running among human participants is getting new tokens that have value and guaranteeing the security of existing token, the incentive in a blockchain based on robot participants is more indirect:
  • the robots belong to a person or organization that benefits from the token
  • the robots perform a mission that is useful for someone

Therefore, we can assume that at least some of the robots are programmed to do the right thing