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Chapter 53 — Multiple Mobile Robot Systems

Lynne E. Parker, Daniela Rus and Gaurav S. Sukhatme

Within the context of multiple mobile, and networked robot systems, this chapter explores the current state of the art. After a brief introduction, we first examine architectures for multirobot cooperation, exploring the alternative approaches that have been developed. Next, we explore communications issues and their impact on multirobot teams in Sect. 53.3, followed by a discussion of networked mobile robots in Sect. 53.4. Following this we discuss swarm robot systems in Sect. 53.5 and modular robot systems in Sect. 53.6. While swarm and modular systems typically assume large numbers of homogeneous robots, other types of multirobot systems include heterogeneous robots. We therefore next discuss heterogeneity in cooperative robot teams in Sect. 53.7. Once robot teams allow for individual heterogeneity, issues of task allocation become important; Sect. 53.8 therefore discusses common approaches to task allocation. Section 53.9 discusses the challenges of multirobot learning, and some representative approaches. We outline some of the typical application domains which serve as test beds for multirobot systems research in Sect. 53.10. Finally, we conclude in Sect. 53.11 with some summary remarks and suggestions for further reading.

Transport of a child by swarm-bots

Author  Ivan Aloisio, Michael Bonani, Francesco Mondada, Andre Guignard, Roderich Gross, Dario Floreano

Video ID : 212

This video shows a swarm of s-bot, miniature, mobile robots in swarm-bot formation pulling a child across the floor.

Towards a swarm of nano quadrotors

Author  Alex Kushleyev, Daniel Mellinger, Vijay Kumar

Video ID : 213

This video shows experiments performed with a team of nano quadrotors at the GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania.

Swarm robotics at CU-Boulder

Author  Dustin Reishus, Nicholas Farrow

Video ID : 214

Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, are developing a swarm of intelligent robots that can work together to perform tasks, such as containing an oil spill or building a space station.

Swarm robot system

Author  James McLurkin

Video ID : 215

This video captures the interactions in a robot system developed at MIT, illustrating several swarm behaviors. These behaviors include dispersing, clumping, and following-the-leader.

Swarm construction robots

Author  Radhika Nagpal

Video ID : 216

This video describes produced at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, showing the development of swarm robots for construction. These robots follow the biological principles underlying insect swarms to achieve their constructions. The robots follow local control roles that, together with traffic control laws, guarantee the building of desired structures.

Multi-robot formation control - Khepera Team

Author  Stefano Chiaverini

Video ID : 217

This video illustrates a multi-robot system made up of Khepera II mobile robots performing a formation-control mission. The robots have to attain and maintain a linear formation while a dynamic obstacle (a ball) moves through the formation.

Experiments of escorting a target

Author  Gianluca Antonelli, Filippo Arrichiello, Stefano Chiaverini

Video ID : 292

This video shows a multirobot system made up of 6 Khepera II mobile robots performing an escorting/entrapping mission. The robots have to surround an autonomous target (a tennis ball pushed by hand). The system is robust to the loss of one or more robots.

Formation control via a distributed controller-observer

Author  Gianluca Antonelli, Filippo Arrichiello, Fabrizio Caccavale, Alessandro Marino

Video ID : 293

This video shows an experiment of formation control with a multirobot system composed of Khepera III mobile robots using the distributed controller-observer schema.