Modeling multi-robot interaction using generalized occupancy grids, with application to reducing spatial interference

As part of a program to find methods of reducing spatial interference in multi-robot systems, we propose the interaction grid (IG), a generalization of the occupancy grid that models the spatial distribution of interactions between robots. We describe alternative methods for building interaction grids, first by recording instances of actual robot-robot interaction, and then by a much faster approximation method. The resulting maps of interaction likelihood can subsequently be used to modify the robot's behaviour to avoid interference. For example, we show how to automatically generate an aggression map for input to the aggressive display behaviour we have previously shown to be effective in interference reduction.