This technical brief summarizes and extends our recently introduced control framework for stochastically allocating a swarm of robots among boundaries of circular regions. As in the previous work, a macroscopic model of the swarm population dynamics is used to synthesize robot control policies that establish and maintain stable predictable team sizes around region boundaries. However, this extension shows that the control strategy can be implemented with no robot-to-robot communication. Moreover, target team sizes can vary across different types of regions, where a region's type is a subjective characteristic that only needs to be detectable by each individual robot. Thus, regions of one type may have a higher equilibrium team size than regions of another type. In other work that predicts and controls stochastic swarm behaviors using macroscopic models, the equilibrium allocations of the swarm are sensitive to changes in the mean robot encounter rates with objects in the environment. Thus, in those works, as the swarm density or number of objects changes, the control policies on each robot must be retuned to achieve the desired allocations. However, our approach is insensitive to changes in encounter rate and therefore requires no retuning as the environment changes. In this extension, we validate these claims and show how the convergence rate to the target equilibrium allocations can be controlled in swarms with a sufficiently large free-robot population. Furthermore, we demonstrate how our framework can be used to experimentally measure the rates of robot encounters with occupied and unoccupied sections of region boundaries. Thus, our method can be viewed both as an encounter-rate-independent allocation strategy as well as a tool for accurately measuring encounter rates when using other swarm control strategies that depend on them.
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March 2015
Technical Briefs
Control of Stochastic Boundary Coverage by Multirobot Systems
Theodore P. Pavlic,
Theodore P. Pavlic
1
1Corresponding author.
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Sean Wilson,
Sean Wilson
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy,
e-mail: Sean.T.Wilson@asu.edu
Arizona State University
,Tempe, AZ 85281
e-mail: Sean.T.Wilson@asu.edu
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Ganesh P. Kumar,
Ganesh P. Kumar
School for Computing, Informatics,
and Decision Systems Engineering,
e-mail: Ganesh.P.Kumar@asu.edu
and Decision Systems Engineering,
Arizona State University
,Tempe, AZ 85281
e-mail: Ganesh.P.Kumar@asu.edu
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Spring Berman
Spring Berman
Assistant Professor
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy,
e-mail: Spring.Berman@asu.edu
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy,
Arizona State University
,Tempe, AZ 85281
e-mail: Spring.Berman@asu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Theodore P. Pavlic
Sean Wilson
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy,
e-mail: Sean.T.Wilson@asu.edu
Arizona State University
,Tempe, AZ 85281
e-mail: Sean.T.Wilson@asu.edu
Ganesh P. Kumar
School for Computing, Informatics,
and Decision Systems Engineering,
e-mail: Ganesh.P.Kumar@asu.edu
and Decision Systems Engineering,
Arizona State University
,Tempe, AZ 85281
e-mail: Ganesh.P.Kumar@asu.edu
Spring Berman
Assistant Professor
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy,
e-mail: Spring.Berman@asu.edu
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy,
Arizona State University
,Tempe, AZ 85281
e-mail: Spring.Berman@asu.edu
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Dynamic Systems Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, MEASUREMENT, AND CONTROL. Manuscript received February 1, 2014; final manuscript received August 14, 2014; published online October 21, 2014. Assoc. Editor: Dejan Milutinovic.
J. Dyn. Sys., Meas., Control. Mar 2015, 137(3): 034504 (9 pages)
Published Online: October 21, 2014
Article history
Received:
February 1, 2014
Revision Received:
August 14, 2014
Citation
Pavlic, T. P., Wilson, S., Kumar, G. P., and Berman, S. (October 21, 2014). "Control of Stochastic Boundary Coverage by Multirobot Systems." ASME. J. Dyn. Sys., Meas., Control. March 2015; 137(3): 034504. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4028353
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