:: Cooperative Collision Avoidance ::
Robotics

Introduction ::

In an area that is prone to be criss crossed by several robots collision avoidance amongst them is inevitable. Here we see how cooperation between robots could enhance collision avoidance maneuvers between them.

Description ::

In navigation that involves several moving agents or robots that are not in possession of each other�s plans, a scheme for resolution of collision conflicts between them becomes mandatory. A resolution scheme is proposed in this paper specifically for the case where it is not feasible to have a priori the plans and locations of all other robots, robots can broadcast information between one another only within a specified communication distance,and a robot is restricted in its ability to react to collision conflicts that occur outside of a specified time interval called the reaction time interval. Collision conflicts are resolved through velocity control by a search operation in the robot�s velocity space. The existence of a cooperative phase in conflict resolution is indicated by a failure of the search operation to find velocities in the individual velocity space of the respective robots involved in the conflict. A scheme for cooperative resolution of conflicts is modeled as a search in the joint velocity space of the robots involved in conflict when the search in the individual space yields a failure. The scheme for cooperative resolution may further involve modifying the states of robots not involved in any conflict. This phenomenon is characterized as the propagation phase where cooperation spreads to robots not directly involved in the conflict. Apart from presenting the methodology for the resolution of conflicts at various levels (individual, cooperative, and propagation), the paper also formally establishes the existence of the cooperative phase during real-time navigation of multiple mobile robots. The effect of varying robot parameters on the cooperative phase is presented and the increase in requirement for cooperation with the scaling up of the number of robots in a system is also illustrated. Simulation results involving several mobile robots are presented to indicate the efficacy of the proposed strategy..

 

 

Related Publication ::


Satish Pedduri and K Madhava Krishna, "Multi Robotic Conflict Resolution by  Cooperative Velocity and Direction Control", In Mobile Robots: Moving Intelligence, Vedran Kordic, Aleksandar Lazinica & Munir Merdan editors

K Madhava Krishna, Srinivas Chellappa, and H. Hexmoor, 2005. "Reactive Navigation of Multiple Moving Agents by Collaborative Resolution of Conflicts", Journal of Robotic Systems, 22(5), 249-269, Wiley Periodicals, Inc

K.  Madhava Krishna and Henry Hexmoor "Reactive Collision Avoidance of Multiple Moving Agents by Cooperation and Conflict Propagation", Proc. of ICRA, (IEEE Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation), New Orleans, April 2004

 

Associated People ::

Satish Pedduri Dr. K. Madhava Krishna
Dr. Henry Hexmoor(Southern Illinois Univ)

Tuesday February 05, 2008