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Distributed coverage with mobile robots on a graph: locational optimization and equal-mass partitioning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2013

Seung-kook Yun  and
Daniela Rus
Seung-kook Yun*
Affiliation:
SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
Daniela Rus
Affiliation:
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: seungkook.yun@sri.com
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Summary

This paper presents decentralized algorithms for coverage with mobile robots on a graph. Coverage is an important capability of multi-robot systems engaged in a number of different applications, including placement for environmental modeling, deployment for maximal quality surveillance, and even coordinated construction. We use distributed vertex substitution for locational optimization and equal mass partitioning, and the controllers minimize the corresponding cost functions. We prove that the proposed controller with two-hop communication guarantees convergence to the locally optimal configuration. We evaluate the algorithms in simulations and also using four mobile robots.

Keywords

Multi-robot systemsModular robotsDistributed algorithmsPath planning on discrete spaces
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 32 , Issue 2: Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS). , March 2014 , pp. 257 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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