Robot Formation Research Articles

ロボット群による段階的空間パターン形成に関する研究

This paper proposes a gradual formation of a spatial pattern for a homogeneous system. The autonomous formation of spatial pattern is important for the advancement of cooperative robotic systems because pattern formation can be regarded as function differentiation of multi-agent system. When multiple autonomous robots cooperatively work on an assigned local task for a global objective like a group of insects or animals, the function differentiation is the first step and indispensable. There were a lot of papers that reported spatial pattern formation of multiple robots, but global information was supposed to be available in their approaches. It is, however, almost impossible for a small robot to be equipped with an advanced sensing system for global information because of robot's scale and sensor. The algorism for complicated pattern formation is needed even if each robot is not so comparative. We therefore propose a gradual pattern formation algorithm, i.e., the group of robots changes their pattern to goal pattern through a simple pattern like a line or a circle. Then we use the Turing Instability theory based only on local information for polygon pattern formation from circle pattern, and experimentally show the formation of several patterns with multiple autonomous robots.

A Framework for Kinematic and Dynamic Motion Planning for a Formation of Mobile Robots

Abstract We present a modeling framework which combines kinematic and dynamic aspects of a motion planning task. This paper presents the control algorithms for multiple mobile manipulators cooperatively grasping and transporting an object. The planning and control tasks are decentralized, and the framework explicitly incorporates the protocols used to coordinate the robots in the team. The framework is flexible in the sense that it scales with the number of robots and controllers.The problems of: a) motion planning (kinematic) and b) force sensing (dynamic) for a formation of mobile manipulators are decoupled. A graph theoretic approach coordinates the motion planning for the robots while stiffness matrices describe the grasping of an object. Experimental results for a team of robots aze presented, and simulation results aze used to illustrate the extensions of our approach to a larger team formation of robots.

Motion planning for formations of mobile robots

This paper is concerned with planning the motion of mobile robots in formation, which means certain geometrical constraints are imposed on the relative positions and orientations of the robots throughout their travel. Specifically, a method of planning motion for formations of mobile robots with non-holonomic constraints is presented. The kinematic equations developed allow a certain class of formations to be maintained while the group as a whole exhibits motion. The work was validated using the Stanford Micro-Autonomous RoverS Testbed.

Robot Formations as an Emergent Collective Task using

Resumen en: Robot formations imply the establishment and the maintenance of a predetermined geometric shape by a group of robots. In this work, we achieve formation...

A general algorithm for robot formations using local sensing and minimal communication

We study the problem of achieving global behavior in a group of distributed robots using only local sensing and minimal communication, in the context of formations. The goal is to have N mobile robots establish and maintain some predetermined geometric shape. We report results from extensive simulation experiments, and 40+ experiments with four physical robots, showing the viability of our approach. The key idea is that each robot keeps a single friend at a desired angle /spl theta/, using some appropriate sensor. By panning the sensor by /spl theta/ degrees, the goal for all formations becomes simply to center the friend in the sensor's field of view. We also present a general analytical measure for evaluating formations and apply it to the position data from both simulation and physical robot experiments. We used two lasers to track the physical robots to obtain ground truth validation data.

Formation Control of Autonomous Robots

A new method for the design and control of autonomous robot formations is presented. The formation geometry is modeled by a virtual manipulator with tree structure and elastic joints. The tree structure defines the dynamic behavior of the formation in the environment. The elastic joints correct position and velocity errors induced by the obstacles. Robots move on nominal trajectories and a force field corresponding to the obstacles is computed to generate avoidance maneuvers. The method's robustness is demonstrated through simulation showing the potential of this approach.

Modeling and control of formations of nonholonomic mobile robots

This paper addresses the control of a team of nonholonomic mobile robots navigating in a terrain with obstacles while maintaining a desired formation and changing formations when required, using graph theory. We model the team as a triple, (g, r, H), consisting of a group element g that describes the gross position of the lead robot, a set of shape variables r that describe the relative positions of robots, and a control graph H that describes the behaviors of the robots in the formation. Our framework enables the representation and enumeration of possible control graphs and the coordination of transitions between any two formations.

Peoples’ SpaceTimes in Global Processes: The Response of the Local

The great American sociologist C. Wright Mills noted in 1959 that “in our time the problems of Western societies are almost inevitably universal problems” (Mills 1959:164-180). He already spoke of “postmodernity” and pointed his ?nger to one of the foremost characteristics of contemporary globalisation: the tension between Reason and Liberty. According to Mills, this tension caused malaise and a certain indifference that led to the formation of a “happy robot” in contrast to the Enlightenment model of a creative human being.

Self-Organizing Collective Robots with Morphogenesis in a Vertical Plane.

This paper presents a novel concept of self-organizing collective robots with morphogenesis in a vertical plane.For physical reconfiguration of a swarm of robots against gravity, new types of mechanisms and control strategies are proposed and demonstrated.Basic feasibility of the mechanisms was confirmed through an experiment adopting four prototype robots.Each robot is composed of a body and a pair of arms.The body is equipped with permanent magnets for bonding with another robot.The arms change the bonding configuration by rotating and sliding motions.As for the control strategies, we proposed algorithms which can generate specific global formations of robots from local and minimum interactions between neighboring robots.It is shown that the proposed algorithms can successfully conduct the swarm of robots to the predetermined configurations.

Information-efficient robotic control

SUMMARYThe work demonstrates a new approach to design of a level of intelligent control of robotic systems. The analytical model results in operational decisions. The structure of these decisions make them readily available to be implemented as an expert system. The approach is applied to a case study of mobile supervisory robots. The model presented here was motivated by manufacturing robotic systems and a type of autonomous robots that collect information at different sites for safety and other control purposes. The robot actions are directly affected by the obta~ned data. At each site the amount of available information (and thus the correctness of the robot decision) can be increased if the robot keeps collecting data at that site for a longer period of t~me. This means a delay in reacting and in reaching next site and accordingly, a decrease in the general amount of robot's information on the whole system.The method of finding an economic amount of information collected by a robot at each site is based on the theory of controlled discrete event stochastic systems developed in our earlier works. This theory combines he basic concepts of discrete event control extended to stochastic systems with some aspects of information economics.

Time-dependent dielectric breakdown of 210Åoxides: K. C. Boyko and D. L. Gerlach. 27th a. Proc. IEEE/IRPS Int. Reliab. Phys. Symp., 1 (1989)

This paper presents a complete working system for robot formations, where path planning and localization tasks are integrated in such a way that environment uncertainty is considered in each of the tasks. Feature-based and grid-based mapping strategies are combined in a probabilistic way to compute an obstacle-free and of minimum-risk plan towards the goal. The formation benefits from the cooperative perception to obtain a joint vision of the environment, represented in a leadercentric way to minimize the effects of the uncertainty. The system has been tested and validated by means of a set of simulations as well as in real experiments.