Field-Drive Robot Swarm Quasi-Transitions

We present an ecology-inspired form of active matter consisting of a field-drive robot swarm. Each robot moves over a planar dynamic resource environment represented by a large light-emitting diode array in search of maximum light intensity, which they deplete (dim) locally by their presence, as living agents would do by seeking maximum resources yet consuming local resources. We show there emerge dynamic phase transitions as a function of robot density, resource consumption and resource recovery rate. Paradoxically the non-gas phases emerge from smooth, flat resource landscapes, not rough ones, and each phase can directly move to the glass state.