Control of the Fetch team of robots

Fetch 2 is a team of four small autonomous robots that are under development for the purpose of 'pickup and carry away' unexploded ordnance removal. Individually or as a team, the robots can be tasked by a remote operator to locally search a list of specific coordinates or to perform a full coverage sweep of the terrain. The control strategy is one of supervised autonomy: the robots operate autonomously but support and submit to a 'human in the loop'. The robots perform autonomous behavioral control within a subsumptive framework. A separate operator control unit coordinates the robots to perform the remediation operation efficiently and with minimal inter-robot interference. The platform will provide a unique testbed to address such issues as cooperation and coordination of a team of robots performing a collaborative mission. One control mechanisms of particular interest is the use of 'virtual sensors' to allow external guidance from other robots, a global map, or a human operator to be transparently incorporated into by each robot.