Blockchain Solutions for Multi-Agent Robotic Systems: Related Work and Open Questions

The possibilities of decentralization and immutability make blockchain probably one of the most breakthrough and promising technological innovations in recent years. This paper presents an overview, analysis, and classification of possible blockchain solutions for practical tasks facing multi-agent robotic systems. The paper discusses blockchain-based applications that demonstrate how distributed ledger can be used to extend the existing number of research platforms and libraries for multi-agent robotic systems.Comment: 5 pages, FRUCT-2019 conference pape

Anonymity in Bitcoin and Bitmessage

This report describes two projects created by the author which are based on ideas which originate from the Bitcoin community. The first, bmd, is a re-implementation of the Bitmessage protocol in go. Bitmessage is an anonymous and secure messaging system invented by Jonathan Warren, who was inspired by the design of Bitcoin's p2p network. [WARR1] The second is Shufflepuff, an implementation of a protocol called CoinShuffle[RUFF1] which allows several people to construct a Bitcoin transaction with an input and an output for each participant without any participant knowing who owns which output. CoinShuffle was invented by Tim Ruffing et al, and it is an upgrade of a protocol called CoinJoin, invented by Gregory Maxwell. This paper discusses the background, properties, applications, and design of bmd and Shufflepuff. There is also a report of a performance analysis on bmd.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

A Review of Blockchain-Based E-Voting Systems: Comparative Analysis and Findings

The emergence of blockchain has ushered in a significant transformation in information systems research. Blockchain’s key pillars such as decentralization, immutability, and transparency have paved the path for extensive exploration in various research domains. This particular study is focused on electronic voting, aiming to improve voting procedures by making better use of the benefits offered by blockchain technology. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, we highlight the potential benefits of blockchain-based electronic voting systems such as transparency, security, and efficiency. However, several challenges, such as scalability, personal data confidentiality, and ensuring robust identity verification, persist. Addressing these issues is necessary to unlock the full potential of blockchain-based electronic voting systems, thereby fostering the development of trustworthy election systems in the future

The blockchain: a new framework for robotic swarm systems

Swarms of robots will revolutionize many industrial applications, from targeted material delivery to precision farming. However, several of the heterogeneous characteristics that make them ideal for certain future applications --- robot autonomy, decentralized control, collective emergent behavior, etc. --- hinder the evolution of the technology from academic institutions to real-world problems. Blockchain, an emerging technology originated in the Bitcoin field, demonstrates that by combining peer-to-peer networks with cryptographic algorithms a group of agents can reach an agreement on a particular state of affairs and record that agreement without the need for a controlling authority. The combination of blockchain with other distributed systems, such as robotic swarm systems, can provide the necessary capabilities to make robotic swarm operations more secure, autonomous, flexible and even profitable. This work explains how blockchain technology can provide innovative solutions to four emergent issues in the swarm robotics research field. New security, decision making, behavior differentiation and business models for swarm robotic systems are described by providing case scenarios and examples. Finally, limitations and possible future problems that arise from the combination of these two technologies are described

On Blockchain We Cooperate: An Evolutionary Game Perspective

Cooperation is fundamental for human prosperity. Blockchain, as a trust machine, is a cooperative institution in cyberspace that supports cooperation through distributed trust with consensus protocols. While studies in computer science focus on fault tolerance problems with consensus algorithms, economic research utilizes incentive designs to analyze agent behaviors. To achieve cooperation on blockchains, emerging interdisciplinary research introduces rationality and game-theoretical solution concepts to study the equilibrium outcomes of various consensus protocols. However, existing studies do not consider the possibility for agents to learn from historical observations. Therefore, we abstract a general consensus protocol as a dynamic game environment, apply a solution concept of bounded rationality to model agent behavior, and resolve the initial conditions for three different stable equilibria. In our game, agents imitatively learn the global history in an evolutionary process toward equilibria, for which we evaluate the outcomes from both computing and economic perspectives in terms of safety, liveness, validity, and social welfare. Our research contributes to the literature across disciplines, including distributed consensus in computer science, game theory in economics on blockchain consensus, evolutionary game theory at the intersection of biology and economics, bounded rationality at the interplay between psychology and economics, and cooperative AI with joint insights into computing and social science. Finally, we discuss that future protocol design can better achieve the most desired outcomes of our honest stable equilibria by increasing the reward-punishment ratio and lowering both the cost-punishment ratio and the pivotality rate

Conceptualization of a Blockchain Based Voting Ecosystem in Estonia

Demokraatia on iidsete kreeklaste poolt välja töötatud mõiste, mille tähendus on "inimeste valitsemine". Maailm on arenenud sellest ajast kaugele edasi – impeeriumidest kuningriikideni ning lõpuks jõudnud demokraatiani nagu me seda tänapäeval teame. Praegustes demokraatlikes riikides põhineb rahva poolne juhtimine perioodilistel valimistel, mis viiakse läbi otsese või kaudse hääletamise teel. Hääletamisviisid on olnud kuni 20. sajandini ühtsed, kasutades hääletamissedeleid ja füüsilist loendamist. Tehnoloogia ja tehnika on sellest ajast alates olukorda muutnud, juurutades elektroonilised hääletamismasinad, näiteks Indias, ja elektroonilised hääletamisvõimalused Interneti kaudu, nagu näiteks Eestis, mida kasutatakse järjepidevalt. Kuid kõige selle juures jääb midagi ikkagi lahendamata. Peale kandidaatide või valitsuse valimist võivad ja saavad nad oma kohustusi ja ülesandeid täita ebapiisava korrektsuse, vähese või puuduva vastutuse ning järelevalveta. Isegi pärast valimisi võib valitsus olla oma kodanike seas ebapopulaarne, kuid enne järgmisi valimisi ei ole kodanikel võimalust midagi muuta. See väitekiri aitab selle lünga täita värskelt kasutusele võetud plokiahela ja hajusraamatu tehnoloogia kasutamisega ning ka äsja väljatöötatud uuenduslike kontseptsioonide abil.Democracy is an age-old concept coined by the ancient Greeks meaning, ‘Rule by People’. World has come far from that, from empires, to kingdoms to finally democracy as we know it. In current democracies, the exercise conducted to be ‘Ruled by People’ is based up on periodic elections and those elections are conducted via voting, direct or indirect. The ways of voting have been consistent up until the 20th Century with the use of ballot papers and physical counting. The age of technology and engineering since, have brought about changes to the status quo, with introduction of Electronic Voting Machines such as, in India and Electronic Voting via Internet such as, in Estonia which are practiced in every election. But in all of this, something still remains unresolved. When candidates or in turn a government is elected, they are meagre obliged to perform their duties correctly, with little or no accountability and oversight. Even after elections, a government might be unpopular among its citizens, but the citizens don’t have means to change anything, before the next elections. This thesis helps to fill this gap with use of newly introduced technology of Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers, and also with the help of newly conceptualized innovative concepts