Patent ID: 8838271

Claim:
At a robotic device, a method for searching for a radiation source, the method comprising: measuring a concentration of radioactive particles; determining a luciferin value based at least in part on the measured concentration of radioactive particles; determining a number of other robotic devices that comprise a neighbor set of robotic devices; and based on the determined luciferin value and the determined number of other robotic devices that comprise the neighbor set, operating in a Chemotactic state, an Anemotactic state, or a Spiraling state, wherein operating in the Chemotactic state comprises the robotic device (a) assigning a probability value to each given robotic device in the neighbor set of robotic devices, each assigned probability value being based on the difference between a luciferin value broadcast by the given robotic device and the determined luciferin value, (b) the robotic device selecting, based on the assigned probability values, a given robotic device from among the neighbor set of robotic devices, and (c) the robotic device taking a step toward a location of the selected robotic device, wherein operating in the Anemotactic state comprises the robotic device making a determination that a current wind has a speed greater than a threshold wind speed and responsively taking a step in the opposite direction of the wind, and wherein operating in the Spiraling state comprises the robotic device taking a step along a substantially spiraled path.