A Multi-Robot System Based on A Hybrid Communication Approach

Abstract

Communication plays an important role in a multi-robot system. In a large system with many robots, it is difficult for all robots to exchange information at a time because of their limited communication capacities. On the other hand, sometimes there is such a situation where no explicit communication is allowed between robots. Therefore, efficient and reliable communication together with non-explicit communication is crucial for a multi-robot system. This paper presents a hybrid communication approach for a multi-robot system, which combines the explicit with implicit communications via using the prediction of robotic behaviour and a fuzzy communication approach. The hybrid communication approach contains a robot performance rule base, a fuzzy inference engine, and a semantics and grammar for communicating. Based on the hybrid communication strategy, the avoidance of collision with multiple robots in working area and multiple robots transporting a common object have been explored. The results of simulation show that the multi-robot system can complete a cooperative task successfully.

Three Dimensional Formation Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Obstacle Environments

“…The critical issue is ensuring that multiple robots can be organized effectively. This requires communication and control according to the desired situation [18].…”

Decentralized Opportunistic Spectrum Resources Access Model and Algorithm toward Cooperative Ad-Hoc Networks

“…Communication resources always play a latent role in networked large-scale agent team coordination applications, such as multi-robots system, mobile sensor system, etc. With the expansion of the system, communication resources exert a momentous impact on the cooperative efficiency [ 1 ], and numerous attention from both industry and academia has been devoted to this research [ 2 ]. For instance, the utmost transfer rate of IEEE 802.11b protocol is 11Mbit/s, and with the insecurity of latency and packet loss, this may fail to meet the capacity requirement of large-scale robots carrying video equipment for surveillance in an open environment [ 3 ].…”