Flocking Rules Governing Swarm Robot as Tool to Describe Continuum Deformation

Overview & Synopsis

In robotic swarm the position of an element is often determined by the behaviour of its neighbours. Following this concept we have realized a tool able to give a visually plausible simulation of continuum deformation. Without solving Newton's equation we reproduced some behaviour of bi-dimensional deformable bodies both according to the standard Cauchy model and second gradient theory. Fracture can be easily managed. The tool has computational cost advantage and it is very flexible to adapt for complex geometry samples.