Probabilistic pursuit-evasion games: theory, implementation, and experimental evaluation

Abstract

Abstract-We consider the problem of having a team of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) pursue a second team of evaders while concurrently building a map in an unknown environment. We cast the problem in a probabilistic game theoretical framework, and consider two computationally feasible greedy pursuit policies: local-max and global-max. To implement this scenario on real UAVs and UGVs, we propose a distributed hierarchical hybrid system architecture which emphasizes the autonomy of each agent, yet allows for coordinated team efforts. We describe the implementation of the architecture on a fleet of UAVs and UGVs, detailing components such as high-level pursuit policy computation, map building and interagent communication, and low-level navigation, sensing, and control. We present both simulation and experimental results of real pursuit-evasion games involving our fleet of UAVs and UGVs, and evaluate the pursuit policies relating expected capture times to the speed and intelligence of the evaders and the sensing capabilities of the pursuers.

Visual servoing of an autonomous helicopter in urban areas using feature tracking

“…The reader is referred to [Saripalli et al, 2003b], [Shim et al, 1998], [Johnson, 1980], [Conway, 1995], [Montgomery, 1999] for an overview of the various types of vehicles, theory and the algorithms used for their control. Recent work has included autonomous landing [Saripalli et al, 2003a], [Shakernia et al, 1999], aggressive maneuvering of AFVs (Autonomous Flying Vehicles) [Gavrilets et al, 2002], and pursuit-evasion games [Vidal et al, 2002].…”

Scalable and Practical Pursuit-Evasion

“…Our work is distinct from several pieces of prior work, as shown in Table II. The novelty of our proposed work is clear in several dimensions: while other work has explored theoretical bounds on eventual capture [13,14], or pursuit-evasion under constrained geometries [15,19] , or has examined sophisticated control strategies [17,18], our proposed work attempts to minimize the time of captured of a multi-pursuer multi-evader under the pragmatic realization of physical multi-robot games.…”

Deployment and Connectivity Repair of a Sensor Net with a Flying Robot

“…A good overview of the various types of vehicles and the algorithms used for control of these vehicles can be found in [17] . Recent work has included autonomous landing [16,19], aggressive maneuvering of helicopters [9] and pursuitevasion games [21].…”