Summary: A Scheme for Coordinating Multi­robot Planning
Activities and Plans Execution
Rachid Alami and F'elix Ingrand and Samer Qutub 1
Abstract. We present and discuss a generic scheme for
multi­robot cooperation based on an incremental and dis­
tributed plan­merging process. Each robot, autonomously and
incrementally builds and executes its own plans taking into
account the multi­robot context. The robots are assumed to
be able to collect the other robots plans and to coordinate
their own plans with the other robots plans to produce ``co­
ordinated plans'' that ensure their proper execution.
We discuss the properties of this cooperative paradigm (co­
herence, detection of dead­lock situations, ...) , how it ``fills
the gap'' between centralized and distributed planning and
the class of applications for which it is well suited.
We finally illustrate this scheme through an implemented
system which allows a fleet of autonomous mobile robots to
perform load transfer tasks in a route network environment
with a very limited centralized activity and important gains in
system flexibility and robustness to execution contingencies.

Source: Alami, Rachid - Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systèmes du CNRS

Collections: Engineering; Computer Technologies and Information Sciences