Control of Two Holonomic Robots Using a Camera- Referenced Specification of Motion

Multi-robot systems have the potential to improve the cost-effectiveness of robotic operations. While significant research work is focused on fully autonomous and supervisory control systems for robot clusters, some applications may benefit from “piloted” clusters in which a single pilot interactively “drive s” the cluster with significant involvement in the realtime dynamic control of the multi-robot system. This paper considers the first phase of a study involving two-robot systems that work together to image a target, with a camera on one robot and auxiliary lights on the second robot. In this phase, an interactive simulation environment has been developed and used to provide initial data regarding the effectiveness of the single-pilot approach. Contributions include the development of the simulation architecture that includes the generation of a three-dimensional virtual reality scene, the design of a simple automated algorithm for converting visual requirements to robot drive commands, and the comparative evaluation of one -pilot vs. two-pilot control for a simulated mission profile. Results from this work support the hypothesis that the implementation of single-pilot aids for multi-robot clusters is a potentially useful capability; these results also highlight specific improvements that must be implemen ted in order to realize the potential of this approach.