Improving Multi-Agent System Coordination Via Intensity Variation

In this work, we explore the impact of inter-agent variation in intensity of effort on the ability of a swarm of artificial agents to achieve a goal. Variation in intensity models biological phenomena such as individual differences in size and strength and increased adeptness for a task due to experience. Focusing on experience, we implement inter-agent variation in intensity, with dynamic values that increase and decrease with an agent's activation or non-activation for a task. Examining intensity variation alone and in combination with activation threshold variation, we find that the desynchronizing effects of variation in thresholds in concert with the increase in agent efficiency due to experience with a task, dramatically improves the swarm's goal achievement.