A Framework and Architecture for Multirobot Coordination

Rajeev Alur, Aveek K. Das, Joel M. Esposito, Rafael B. Fierro, Gregory Z. Grudic, Yerang Hur, Vijay Kumar, Insup Lee, J. P. Lee, James P. Ostrowski, George J. Pappas, Ben Southall, John R. Spletzer, Camillo J. Taylor

Abstract: In this paper, we present a framework and the software architecture for the deployment of multiple autonomous robots in an unstructured and unknown environment with applications ranging from scouting and reconnaissance, to search and rescue and manipulation tasks. Our software framework provides the methodology and the tools that enable robots to exhibit deliberative and reactive behaviors in autonomous operation, to be reprogrammed by a human operator at run-time, and to learn and adapt to unstructured, dynamic environments and new tasks, while providing performance guarantees. We demonstrate the algorithms and software on an experimental testbed that involves a team of car-like robots using a single omnidirectional camera as a sensor without explicit use of odometry.