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**Research Group 2 Team Members: Lim Yao Chong, Lee Yi Liang and Seow Wen Jun. External advisor: Mr Jonathan Phua, DSO

Title of Project: Emergent Robotic Symphony

Purpose of Research** To study emergent intelligence/AI interactions between robots given simple instructions using music as a medium for our research.

The aim of our project is to research on the sophisticated and unexpected emergent behavior that arises from autonomous agents, each programmed with only simple rules, similar to insect behavior in bees and ants. We would like to learn more about how numerous robotics with simple programming can possibly interact, and perhaps produce a greater intelligence. This can be applied to defence, where simple robots that are scattered along the battlefield that can interact with each other, and possibly give an overview of the situation in the battlefield. To explore such emergent behavior, we will be using several Arduino boards. Arduino boards are micro processing boards that can be programmed to respond to its environment, by giving off an output when input signals are detected by receptors. We will be using music to conduct this research because of the variety of musical notes available, the ability of music to travel and the ability for the researcher to recognize patterns in the result of the experiment. The Arduino ‘robots’ can interact with one another using musical tunes. The tunes that each robot produces are influenced by what it hears. For example, each Arduino robot starts with a different repertoire of tunes and different rules on what and when to play each tune. Lets say play tune A when it hears a certain sound tone from another robot, tune B at random intervals and play tune C when there is no other robot playing within earshot. Besides momentary robot interaction, genetic evolution can also be explored. On top of its usual rules, each robot can also randomly ‘learn’ part of a tune from another robot, and replace one of its own tunes with the new tune (swapping ‘genetic’ material). What kind of behavior would result? Would there be some unexpected synchronized symphony after a while, or just plain chaos? The robotic chorus would be likely different every time. The sound tones can be played using Arduino’s digital PWM and timers, and recording can be done with the analog-to-digital converter. Each Arduino’s programmer would tweak the behavior rules differently. We would also try to find which programs or instruction given would create intelligence between the robots, by giving each board different sensors, so that the situation in the surroundings can be derived just by the sound produced. Based on the result of the emergent robotic symphony we could improve the project more into the defence aspect or as a form of entertainment, where people with such robots can place them together and watch them interact. By adding proximity sensors to the Arduino, a human walking among the scattered robots would evoke a strange new performance every time. The Arduino can also be expanded with sound chips to produce more pleasing tones. Also, the arduino can be given more movement abilities and hardware or even be programed learn more sophisticated movements as time goes by. 
 * Our Plan**
 * Literature Review**

Problem Definition (current context)**
 * Projects’ Day proposal


 * Proposed solution**

- Preliminary Work (Term 1, March Holidays) - Term 2 Weeks 1-8 - Term 2 Week 9 - June Holidays Week 2 - June Holidays Week 3 - Term 3 Week 5 - Term 3 Week 6-7  Meetings
 * Timeline**
 * Get familiarized with Arduino programming, purchase materials needed
 * Program one Arduino robot to generate tunes based on external stimuli
 * Program at least two more Arduino robots to generate tunes based on external stimuli + mutual interaction with other robots
 * Experiment with genetic evolution algorithms
 * Buffer time for extra troubleshooting, improvements

2/1- Introduction

3/2- Discussion of ideas

1/3- Confirmation of topic and area of research