Distributed control of multi-agent systems on a mobile robot testbed

[temporary version, Aug 19, 2009]

The problem of coordination and autonomous operation of groups of vehicles represents challenges that are becoming increasingly important to address for increased efficiency in diverse application areas such as transportation networks, logistics, high-performance agricultural systems, and mobile sensor networks. Distributed, cooperative control is a key enabling technology for such multi-agent systems.

The main research topic of the project is to investigate various methods and develop new techniques in the area of distributed sensing and control for multiple mobile agents. The research efforts will focus on algorithm and methodology development for multi-agent control systems with particular emphasis on developing and testing cooperative path planning methods with coordination and consensus protocols in a distributed environment. The proposed approach should consider constrained dynamics, where communication between agents is limited but at the same time necessary to achieve a common objective. Application examples of interest include coordination tasks such as distributed path planning for groups of automated harvesting vehicles, search-and-rescue operations, and mobile sensor networks.

The project will also involve setting up a mobile robot testbed, which will serve as a benchmark for the proposed control strategies and as a research and educational demonstration tool for other students and researchers. This part of the work entails the design of the test setup architecture including the selection of appropriate off-the-shelf components (mobile robots, wireless communication, localization solution).

The mobile robot testbed is expected to be matured and enhanced with help from MSc and BSc students attracted through projects proposed and overseen by the research team members.

To know more, look at: http://www.dcsc.tudelft.nl/~asimonetto