Cooperation Of Multiple Mobile Robots Research Articles

Research of grasping and transporting of objects by cooperation of multiple mobile robots

Research of grasping and transporting of objects by cooperation of multiple mobile robots

Active Persistent Localization of a Three-Dimensional Moving Target Under Set-Membership Uncertainty Description Through Cooperation of Multiple Mobile Robots

The persistent localization of moving targets is one of the most important applications of mobile robot systems. However, the sensors on each individual robot are often not sufficiently accurate for this task, presenting a severe limitation on the application of robots to many situations. To overcome this problem, systems of multiple robots have been established. These systems improve the localization accuracy of mobile targets by fusing together multiple sensing data. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the relative motion (or specifically, the relative pose) between the robot and the target, as well as that among different robots, strongly influences the final localization accuracy of the data fusion algorithm. In other words, the regulation of motion in a multiple-robot system will lead to better localization results. Thus, in this paper, a new active persistent localization (APL) scheme is proposed. The underlying concept of this scheme is based on set-membership descriptions of uncertainties. The basic problem is formulated in the framework of an enhanced set-membership filter, and a new data fusion algorithm with improved accuracy and convergence properties is designed. A motion-planning algorithm is then incorporated under the so-called optimal localization condition to complete the APL scheme. Simulations using multiple 3-D mobile robot systems and experiments on a multiple rotor-flying-robots test bed show that the proposed algorithm successfully enhances the accuracy of the persistent localization of the moving target.

A dynamic priority based path planning for cooperation of multiple mobile robots in formation forming

Robots that work in a proper formation show several advantages compared to a single complex robot, such as a reduced cost, robustness, efficiency and improved performance. Existing researches focused on the method of keeping the formation shape during the motion, but usually neglect collision constraints or assume a simplified model of obstacles. This paper investigates the path planning of forming a target robot formation in a clutter environment containing unknown obstacles. The contribution lies in proposing an efficient path planner for the multiple mobile robots to achieve their goals through the clutter environment and developing a dynamic priority strategy for cooperation of robots in forming the target formation. A multirobot system is set up to verify the proposed method of robot path planning. Simulations and experiments results demonstrate that the proposed method can successfully address the collision avoidance problem as well as the formation forming problem.

Mutual Localization of Multiple Sensor Node Robots

The objective of this paper is to develop a localization systemof cooperativemultiple mobile robots, in which each robot is assumed to observe a set of known landmarks and equipped with an omnidirectional camera. In this paper, it is assumed that a robot can detect other robots by using the omnidirectional camera, share its estimated position with others, and utilize shared positions for its localization. In other words, each robot can be viewed as an additional mobile landmark to a set of stationary landmarks. A foremost concern is how well this system performs localization under a limited amount of information. This paper presents an investigation of self localization error of each robot in a group using Extended Kalman Filter to solve the localization problem with the insufficient landmarks and inaccurate position information.

Cooperative transport strategy for formation control of multiple mobile robots

This paper addresses a box transport problem that requires the cooperation of multiple mobile robots. A geometric-based distributed formation control strategy is proposed for robots to push the box to the target, which might be static or dynamic. Velocity and hardware constraints are considered in the advanced planning of the trajectory. Information sharing is included because the robots used as box pushers cannot acquire the required environmental information from their local sensors. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed distributed cooperation strategy.

Regrasp in Transportation of a Large Object by Cooperation of Multiple Mobile Robots.

This paper deals with a real-time planning method for transportation/regrasp of a large object by multiple robots (a robot group). Real-time performance can be realized by iterating two-step sub-planning in one sampling interval: (1) motion planning of the object, and (2) that of the robot group. The virtual impedance method, which was proposed by the authors, is extended to sub-planning (1). For sub-planning (2), nonlinear programming is used to determine the optimal distribution of the robot group with consideration of obstacle avoidance and stable grasping. Simulations are performed for transport of a rectangular object by three robots. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown in terms of evaluating distance between the robots and obstacles and grasping stability.

Special Issue on Robot Motion Planning

This special issue is devoted to robot motion planning. The main scope of this issue covers research work on mobile robotics. Motion planning is necessary when the robot determines its own actions. For the last decade, the paradigm of motion planning in mobile robotics has shifted from off-line motion planning to on-line motion planning and from planning in a static environment to planning in a time-varying environment. Recent progress of computational power has enabled this paradigm shift, since on-line motion planning and planning in time-varying environments require repeated computation based on sensory information which is always renewed. The guest editors organized this special issue in order to highlight those two new paradigms. We present two survey papers: One is a survey of on-line motion planning for a sensor-based navigation of a mobile robot, and the other is a survey of motion planning for mobile robots in a time-varying environment. Along with the survey papers, distinguished technical papers are provided in this special issue. Concerning path planning, a paper describing a case study on motion planning with teaching is included (Ogata et al). Motion planning based on Fuzzy logic is one approach, and three papers from Maeda, Ishikawa et al. and Nagata et al. also belong to this category. To offer a case study on reactive motion decision making, one paper by Ando et al. is included. A recently emerging subject is related to motion planning for cooperation of multiple mobile robots or a single robot among multiple moving obstacles. Three papers from Yoshioka et al., Ota et al., and Fujimura discuss problems on motion planning for cooperation of multiple mobile robots. One paper from Tsubouchi et al. discussed the motion planning of a single robot among multiple moving obstacles. Motion planning to select an appropriate corner cube as a landmark is addressed in the paper from Hashimoto et al. The guest editors hope that this special issue will provide the readers with a lock at some current issues and new perspectives on robot motion planning.

Local communication of multiple mobile robots: design of group behavior for efficient communication

A novel design method of robot behavior is discussed to realize efficient local communication for cooperation of multiple mobile robots. Local communication is now increasingly utilized in cooperative many-robot systems because of its advantages of load distribution and simple implementation. In its usage, the design of each robot's behavior is a very important issue since it has a significant effect upon the communication efficiency in a collective manner. In this study, we introduce a simple group behavior and analyze how it improves the performance of local communication among many mobile robots. The performance is evaluated using the information transmission time that plays a crucial part in effective cooperation. Next, the optimal group size is analytically derived by minimizing the transmission time. The effectiveness of the analytical design method is verified by computer simulations of many-robot communication.

An Intelligent Data Carrier System for Local Communication Between Cooperative Multiple Mobile Robots and Environment

This paper presents an intelligent communication device called IDC (Intelligent Data Carrier) designed for local communication within a distributed system with multiple mobile robots. The IDC system is designed as a complement to an existing radio communication system. and is intended to decrease the need for global coordinative communication by providing distributed local inter-robot communication and a local information management function. The IDC system utilizes RF-ID (Radio Frequency Identification) electromagnetic wave transmission for communication, and the units are equipped with a data processing unit and a power unit to allow intelligent autonomous operation. As a result of the autonomy and the portability of the units, the IDC system does not only reduce the load on the global communication system, but it also provides a distribution of intelligent communication devices that enable a variety of interesting robot-environment communication capabilities. In a first example of utilization, the IDC system is used to replace the centralized control in an object transportation system consisting of multiple mobile robots.

特集「ネットワーク型ロボットシステム」 複数の移動ロボットの協調

特集「ネットワーク型ロボットシステム」 複数の移動ロボットの協調