Self-Configurable Mobile Robot Swarms: Adaptive Triangular Mesh Generation

We address the problem of dispersing a large number of auton om us mobile robots, for building wirelessad hocsensor networks performing environmental monitoring and control. For this purpose, we propose the adaptive tr angular mesh generation algorithm that enables robots to generate triangular meshe s of various sizes, adapting to changing environmental conditions. A locally interacting , geometric technique allows each robot to generate a triangular mesh with its two neighbor rob ots. Specifically, we have assumed that robots are not allowed to have any identifiers, any pre-determined leaders or common coordinate systems, or any explicit communication. U der such minimal conditions, the positions of the robots were shown to converge to t he desired distribution. This convergence was mathematically proven and also verified thr ough extensive simulations. Our results indicate that the proposed algorithm can be appl ied to problems regarding the coverage of an area of interest by a swarm of mobile sensors.