This paper presents results generated with a new evolutionary robotics (ER) simulation environment and its complementary real mobile robot colony research test-bed. Neural controllers producing mobile robot maze searc...
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This paper presents results generated with a new evolutionary robotics (ER) simulation environment and its complementary real mobile robot colony research test-bed. Neural controllers producing mobile robot maze searching and exploration behaviors using binary tactile sensors as inputs were evolved in a simulated environment and subsequently transferred to and tested on real robots in a physical environment. There has been a considerable amount of proof-of-concept and demonstration research done in the field of ER control in recent years, most of which has focused on elementary behaviors such as object avoidance and homing. Artificial neural networks (ANN) are the most commonly used evolvable controller paradigm found in current ER literature. Much of the research reported to date has been restricted to the implementation of very simple behaviors using small ANN controllers. In order to move beyond the proof-of-concept stage our ER research was designed to train larger more complicated ANN controllers, and to implement those controllers on real robots quickly and efficiently. To achieve this a physical robot test-bed that includes a colony of eight real robots with advanced computing and communication abilities was designed and built. The real robot platform has been coupled to a simulation environment that facilitates the direct wireless transfer of evolved neural controllers from simulation to real robots (and vice versa). We believe that it is the simultaneous development of ER computing systems in both the simulated and the physical worlds that will produce advances in mobile robot colony research. Our simulation and training environment development focuses on the definition and training of our new class of ANNs, networks that include multiple hidden layers, and time-delayed and recurrent connections. Our physical mobile robot design focuses on maximizing computing and communications power while minimizing robot size, weight, and energy usage. The simulation and
In this research, a new communication and information sharing mechanism for a very large group of mobile robots has been developed and tested successfully. This system also enables robots to share their computational ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0889864381
In this research, a new communication and information sharing mechanism for a very large group of mobile robots has been developed and tested successfully. This system also enables robots to share their computational resources. Grid Services technology is used in design and the Globus Toolkit3.0 has been utilized in implementation. A mobile robot can ask assistance from some other mobile robots in order to coordinate a task involving multiple mobile robots. Such a system is crucial especially when very large number (hundreds or thousands) of robots need to communicate and share resources. Several mobile robots with very rich sensory capabilities have been used to test the developed system.
Agent technology has today a wide spectrum of possible applications. It is easy to notice many examples of agents in different branches: economics, management, manufacturing, telecommunication, robotics, entertainment...
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ISBN:
(纸本)8371432720
Agent technology has today a wide spectrum of possible applications. It is easy to notice many examples of agents in different branches: economics, management, manufacturing, telecommunication, robotics, entertainment, to list a few. However, this technology is not mature enough yet to give precise predictions about success or failure of an agent-based project. This paper tries to demonstrate the current state of the agent technology. We describe important features of existing multi-agent paradigms to start some discussion on their suitability and applicability in robotic applications.
This paper describes a mobile robot platform built entirely from commercial off-the-shelf (COST) components. The design explicitly aims at enabling research in robot navigation, multi-robot coordination, and distribut...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0780386418
This paper describes a mobile robot platform built entirely from commercial off-the-shelf (COST) components. The design explicitly aims at enabling research in robot navigation, multi-robot coordination, and distributed robotics. The platform must meet many criteria including low cost, simple fabrication, and a sensor/actuator suite that facilitate navigation and localization. We use state-of-the-art digital signal processor (DSP) from Texas Instruments (TI) to design the control system because of its high-speed performance, its support for multi-motor control, and its low power consumption. An omnidirectional vision system is implemented to facilitate vision-based multiple robot coordination. Future research directions using the mobile robot platform are outlined.
Self-assembly is expected to become a dominant fabrication technique for the nanodevices and systems of the future. Traditional, or passive, self-assembly techniques have great difficulty in producing the asymmetric s...
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ISBN:
(纸本)0780382323
Self-assembly is expected to become a dominant fabrication technique for the nanodevices and systems of the future. Traditional, or passive, self-assembly techniques have great difficulty in producing the asymmetric structures needed by the applications. This paper discusses self-assembly methods that use active assembly agents (robots). It shows that swarms of such robots that communicate only by very simple messages can be programmed to form either wholly or partially specified structures, with the construction process possibly involving sacrificial components or scaffolds. The assembly agents have small memory and communication requirements, and interact only when they are in contact. They are good models for future nanorobots, which are likely to communicate chemically.
This article describes the simulation of distributed autonomous robots for search and rescue operations. The simulation system is utilized to perform experiments with various control strategies for the robot team and ...
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This article describes the simulation of distributed autonomous robots for search and rescue operations. The simulation system is utilized to perform experiments with various control strategies for the robot team and team organizations, evaluating the comparative performance of the strategies and organizations. The objective of the robot team is to, once deployed in an environment (floor-plan) with multiple rooms, cover as many rooms as possible. The simulated robots are capable of navigation through the environment, and can communicate using simple messages. The simulator maintains the world, provides each robot with sensory information, and carries out the actions of the robots. The simulator keeps track of the rooms visited by robots and the elapsed time, in order to evaluate the performance of the robot teams. The robot teams are composed of homogenous robots, i.e., identical control strategies are used to generate the behavior of each robot in the team. The ability to deploy. autonomous robots, as opposed to humans, in hazardous search and rescue missions could provide immeasurable benefits. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Two of the most important aspects in the design of multi-robot systems are the allocation of tasks among the robots and the robots' communication in a productive and efficient manner. Task allocation methodologies...
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Two of the most important aspects in the design of multi-robot systems are the allocation of tasks among the robots and the robots' communication in a productive and efficient manner. Task allocation methodologies must ensure that not only the global mission is achieved, but also that the tasks arc well distributed among the robots. An effective task allocation approach considers the available resources, the entities to optimize (time, energy, quality), the capabilities of the deployable robots, and appropriately allocates the tasks accordingly. The communication capabilities allow the robots to implicitly or explicitly communicate their status and the needed information regarding each other, the environment, and the tasks. This paper provides a survey of task allocation and communication methodologies for multi-robot systems.
The objective of this work is to enhance the mobility of small mobile robots by enabling them to link into a train configuration capable of crossing relatively large obstacles. In particular, we are building on Millib...
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The objective of this work is to enhance the mobility of small mobile robots by enabling them to link into a train configuration capable of crossing relatively large obstacles. In particular, we are building on Millibots, semiautonomous, tracked mobile sensing/communication platforms at the 5-cm scale previously developed at Carnegie Mellon University. The Millibot Train concept provides couplers that allow the Millibot modules to engage/disengage under computer control and joint actuators that allow lifting of one module by another and control of the whole train shape in two dimensions. A manually configurable train prototype demonstrated the ability to climb standard stairs and vertical steps nearly half the train length. A fully functional module with powered joints has been developed and several have been built and tested. Construction of a set of six modules is well underway and will allow testing of the complete train in the near future. This paper focuses on the development, design, and construction of the electromechanical hardware for the Millibot Train.
An important issue that arises in the automation of many security, surveillance, and reconnaissance tasks is that of observing the movements of targets navigating in a bounded area of interest. A key research issue in...
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An important issue that arises in the automation of many security, surveillance, and reconnaissance tasks is that of observing the movements of targets navigating in a bounded area of interest. A key research issue in these problems is that of sensor placement-determining where sensors should be located to maintain the targets in view. In complex applications involving limited-range sensors, the use of multiple sensors dynamically moving over time is required. In this paper, we investigate the use of a cooperative team of autonomous sensor-based robots for the observation of multiple moving targets. In other research, analytical techniques have been developed for solving this problem in complex geometrical environments. However, these previous approaches are very computationally expensive-at least exponential in the number of robots-and cannot be implemented on robots operating in real-time. Thus, this paper reports on our studies of a simpler problem involving uncluttered environments-those with either no obstacles or with randomly distributed simple convex obstacles. We focus primarily on developing the on-line distributed control strategies that allow the robot team to attempt to minimize the total time in which targets escape observation by some robot team member in the area of interest. This paper first formalizes the problem (which we term CMOMMT for Cooperative Multi-Robot Observation of Multiple Moving Targets) and discusses related work. We then present a distributed heuristic approach (which we call A-CMOMMT) for solving the CMOMMT problem that uses weighted local force vector control. We analyze the effectiveness of the resulting weighted force vector approach by comparing it to three other approaches. We present the results of our experiments in both simulation and on physical robots that demonstrate the superiority of the A-CMOMMT approach for situations in which the ratio of targets to robots is greater than 1/2. Finally, we conclude by proposing that
As research progresses in distributed robotic systems, more and more aspects of multirobot systems are being explored. This Special Issue on Advances in Multirobot Systems provides a broad sampling of the research tha...
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As research progresses in distributed robotic systems, more and more aspects of multirobot systems are being explored. This Special Issue on Advances in Multirobot Systems provides a broad sampling of the research that is currently ongoing in the field of distributed mobile robot systems. To help categorize this research, we have identified seven primary research topics within multirobot systems: biological inspirations, communication, architectures, localization/mapping/exploration, object transport and manipulation, motion coordination, and reconfigurable robots. This editorial examines these research areas and discusses the Special Issue papers in this context. We conclude by identifying several additional open research issues in distributed mobile robotic systems.
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