In this paper, we propose a distributed version of the Hungarian Method to solve the well known assignment problem. In the context of multi-robot applications, all robots cooperatively compute a common assignment that optimizes a given global criterion (e.g. the total distance traveled) within a finite set of local computations and communications over a peer-to-peer network. As a motivating application, we consider a class of multi-robot routing problems with "spatio-temporal" constraints, i.e. spatial targets that require servicing at particular time instants. As a means of demonstrating the theory developed in this paper, the robots cooperatively find online, suboptimal routes by applying an iterative version of the proposed algorithm, in a distributed and dynamic setting. As a concrete experimental test-bed, we provide an interactive "multi-robot orchestral" framework in which a team of robots cooperatively plays a piece of music on a so-called orchestral floor.
NOMENCLATUREIn the following table, we present the nomenclature used in this paper.
Table of NotationV Vertex partitioning of two disjoint sets R (robots) and P (targets) respectively, denoted by V = (R, P ) E i orig Edge set containing the edges between a robot i ∈ R and every target in P w i orig Weight function corresponding to the edge set E i orig G i orig
We consider the problem of routing multiple robots to service spatially distributed requests at specified time instants, where each robot, as well as each request, is associated with one or more skills (or functions). A request can be serviced by a robot as long as the robot has at least one skill in common with the skill set of that request. We characterize the feasibility aspects of such a heterogeneous routing problem, and provide algorithms for finding the minimum number of robots required to service the requests, and for constructing the corresponding paths of the robots.
This paper presents preliminary results of a mobile manipulator robot tasked to play the classic Towers of Hanoi game. We first discuss the control algorithms necessary to enable necessary game-playing behavior and provide results of implementing our methodology in a high fidelity 3D environment. After attaining success in the simulation environment, we provide results on implementation of the same control software using physical robot hardware. Additionally, preliminary analysis for implementing analog Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control on this platform using a floating-gate based reconfigurable analog IC is explored. Using this concept of floating gate analog arrays for control enables off-loading of the processing, which could be helpful for real-time implementation of robot behavior.
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