Measuring Coordination Demand in Multirobot Teams

Conventional models of multirobot control assume independent robots and tasks. This allows an additive model in which the operator controls robots sequentially neglecting each until its performance deteriorates sufficiently to require new operator input. This paper presents a measure of coordination demand, CD, and experiments intended to extend the neglect tolerance model to situations in which robots must cooperate to perform dependent tasks. In the first experiment operators controlled 2 robot teams to perform a box pushing task under high coordination demand, teleoperation, moderate demand (waypoint control/heterogeneous robots), and low demand (waypoint control/homogeneous robots) conditions. In the second experiment participants performed a search and rescue task requiring cooperation between robots creating maps and others carrying cameras. Measured demand and performance were largely consistent with the CD model's predictions.