Departmental Papers (MEAM)

Title

A Mechanism for Dynamic Coordination of Multiple Robots

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

July 2004

Comments

Postprint version. Published in Autonomous Robots, Volume 17, Issue 1, July 2004, pages 7-21. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com.
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:AURO.0000032935.30271.a5

Abstract

In this paper, we present a mechanism for coordinating multiple robots in the execution of cooperative tasks. The basic idea in the paper is to assign to each robot in the team, a role that determines its actions during the cooperation. The robots dynamically assume and exchange roles in a synchronized manner in order to perform the task successfully, adapting to unexpected events in the environment. We model this mechanism using a hybrid systems framework and apply it in different cooperative tasks: cooperative manipulation and cooperative search and transportation. Simulations and real experiments demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism are presented.

Keywords

cooperative robotics, multi-robot coordination

Date Posted: 13 August 2005

This document has been peer reviewed.