Decentralized Multi-target Exploration and Connectivity Maintenance with a Multi-robot System

This paper presents a novel distributed control strategy that enables multi-target exploration while ensuring a time-varying connected topology in both 2D and 3D cluttered environments. Flexible continuous connectivity is guaranteed by gradient descent on a monotonic potential function applied on the algebraic connectivity (or Fiedler eigenvalue) of a generalized interaction graph. Limited range, line-of-sight visibility, and collision avoidance are taken into account simultaneously by weighting of the graph Laplacian. Completeness of the multitarget visiting algorithm is guaranteed by using a decentralized adaptive leader selection strategy and a suitable scaling of the exploration force based on the direction alignment between exploration and connectivity force and the traveling efficiency of the current leader. Extensive MonteCarlo simulations with a group of several quadrotor UAVs show the practicability, scalability and effectiveness of the proposed method.

[1]  Gianluca Antonelli,et al.  Coordinated Control of Mobile Antennas for Ad-Hoc Networks in Cluttered Environments , 2006, IAS.

[2]  M. Fiedler.  Algebraic connectivity of graphs , 1973 .

[3]  Geoffrey A. Hollinger,et al.  Multirobot Coordination With Periodic Connectivity: Theory and Experiments , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[4]  Seif Haridi,et al.  Distributed Algorithms , 1992, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[5]  Antonio Franchi,et al.  Distributed Pursuit-Evasion without Global Localization via Local Frontiers , 2010 .

[6]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Experiments with a Large Heterogeneous Mobile Robot Team: Exploration, Mapping, Deployment and Detection , 2006, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[7]  Nils J. Nilsson,et al.  A Formal Basis for the Heuristic Determination of Minimum Cost Paths , 1968, IEEE Trans. Syst. Sci. Cybern..

[8]  Ning Xi,et al.  Coordinated multi-robot real-time exploration with connectivity and bandwidth awareness , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[9]  R. Murray,et al.  Consensus protocols for networks of dynamic agents , 2003, Proceedings of the 2003 American Control Conference, 2003..

[10]  Gianluca Antonelli,et al.  A self-configuring MANET for coverage area adaptation through kinematic control of a platoon of mobile robots , 2005, 2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[11]  Matt W. Mutka,et al.  Steiner traveler: Relay deployment for remote sensing in heterogeneous multi-robot exploration , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[12]  Antonio Franchi,et al.  Bilateral Teleoperation of Groups of UAVs with Decentralized Connectivity Maintenance , 2011, Robotics: Science and Systems.

[13]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Connectivity management in mobile robot teams , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[14]  Antonio Franchi,et al.  On Cooperative Patrolling: Optimal Trajectories, Complexity Analysis, and Approximation Algorithms , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[15]  Paolo Fiorini,et al.  Search and Rescue Robotics , 2008, Springer Handbook of Robotics.

[16]  Siddhartha S. Srinivasa,et al.  Decentralized estimation and control of graph connectivity in mobile sensor networks , 2008, 2008 American Control Conference.

[17]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Visibility-based deployment of robot formations for communication maintenance , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[18]  G. Oriolo,et al.  The Sensor-based Random Graph Method for Cooperative Robot Exploration , 2009, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.