Flocks of RobotsCoordinated Multi-robot Systems

Dylan A. ShellDistributed AI Robotics Lab Department of

Computer Science & Engineering Texas A&M University

Introduction to Computing: CSCE181, 28th Feb 2012

Motivation Let’s start with a practical application

Motivation

We wish to exploit the mobility of multiple inexpensive robots to provide dynamically reconfigurable and robust communication infrastructure

• Ten to twenty simple robots• Limited sensing• Connect moving sources to a gateway

Motivation (cont.)Integrated solution involved:• Initial Mesh Network Formation– Establish connection & break-out behaviors

• Throughput Optimization– Smart “Wiggling”

• Robustness– Bi-connectivity– Self-healing behavior

• Development work– Custom ad hoc routing: OLSR– Simulation