This projects aims at developing a distributed architecture to control multiple robots cooperatively, executing realistic missions with the help of human specialists. Foreseen practical applications include the assistance to the elderly and handicapped and remote surveillance and maintenance.
This project addresses the following topics:
(1) Synthesis of motion strategies (actions) using Viability Theory;
(2) Hybrid representation of the team state, with the discrete part of the state including event information exchanged among robots and specialists, and the continuous part of the state including the actions;
(3) Properties relevant from the mission execution perspective, namely controllability and stability, in the context of the hybrid systems addressed in topic (2).
Topic (1) discusses the influence of uncertainty in the synthesis of each of the robot’s actions by selecting classes of controllers that make a differential inclusion (the action) viable in some pre-assigned set (the set bounding the possible trajectories in the robot’s C-space).
Topic (2) addresses the formal aspects of joining the relevant issues in viability theory with those in hybrid systems theory.
Topic (3) addresses the effect of negotiation models in team controllability and stability and on the formation of coalitions.