Chapter

Challenges of the Multi-robot Team in the GUARDIANS Project

12/2009; DOI:10.1007/978-3-642-10817-4_11 pp.112-125
Source: DBLP

ABSTRACT The Guardians multi-robot team is being designed to be deployed in a large warehouse to assist firefighters in the event or danger of a
fire. The large size of the environment together with development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent
major challenges in search and rescue operations. The GUARDIANS robots act alongside a firefighter and should provide, among
others, the following tasks: to guide or accompany the firefighters on the site while indicating possible obstacles and locations
of danger and maintaining communications links. In order to fulfill the aforementioned tasks the robots need to be able to
exert certain behaviours. Among the basic behaviours are capabilities to unite in a group - generate a formation - and navigate
on the site while keeping this formation. The basic control model used to generate these behaviours is based on the so-called
social potential field framework, which we adapt to fulfill specific tasks of the Guardians scenario. All of the tasks can be achieved without central control, and some of the tasks can be performed even without explicit
communication among the robots. We discuss advantages and shortcomings of our model and present samples of implementation
on ERA-MOBI robots, commonly referred to as Erratics.

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  • Conference Proceeding: Mixed human-robot team navigation in the GUARDIANS project
    L. Alboul, J. Saez-Pons, J. Penders
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: A theoretical framework for generating navigation behaviour patterns in mixed human-robot groups in complex environments is proposed. This framework represents an essential part in the development of a multiple robot-human system for assisting fire-fighters in search and rescue operations in the GUARDIANS project. In order to produce the desired behaviours an artificial potential field method has been developed. We distinguish a three classes of agents: robots, humans and obstacles, and apply different potential functions to them. Depending on the situation, we switch from one function to another; this allows to generate desired behaviour patterns as well as to avoid certain local minima. Typical behaviour patterns are singled out and their stability is discussed. Stability analysis is based on geometric considerations, that permits to avoid bulky computations and provide graphic demonstrations of convergence. The proposed framework can be used in other robotic applications where a group of heterogenous agents is deployed.
    Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics, 2008. SSRR 2008. IEEE International Workshop on; 11/2008
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Keywords

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