The Physics of Economic Tipping Points Via Robophysics

We have created an analog economic system running by a population of intelligent robots as workers and firm owners, and a central computer plays the role of a central bank. The robots move over a two-dimensional world in which multiple information fields are represented by chromatic lights coming from a large LED array. Each robot has to make financial decisions partially based on the local state in which they themselfes also influence. The communication network is via bluetooth, which allows trading, non-local information-exchange and global business. Having build an economy concretely from the ground up, we can now study how different macro-behaviors can emerge from micro-interactions, such as the tipping point in banking and the risk of economy collapse when there is a drastic change to the world.