Skip to main content

A Distributed, Real-Time Approach to Multi Robot Uniform Frequency Coverage

  • Chapter
Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 83))

  • 4667 Accesses

Abstract

The article proposes a novel distributed solution to the problem of Multi-Robot Uniform Frequency Coverage (MRUFC in short), in which a team of robots are requested to repeatedly visit a set of pre-defined locations of the environment with uniform frequency.With respect to other algorithms in literature, the approach proposed has extremely low requirements in terms of computational power, does not require inter-robot communication, and can even be implemented on memoryless robots, thus being easily implementable on real, marketable robot swarms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Ahmadi, M., Stone, P.: A multi-robot system for continuous area sweeping tasks. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 1724–1729 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Arkin, E., Fekete, S., Mitchell, J.: Approximation algorithms for lawn mowing and milling. Tech. Rep. 255, Mathematisches Institut, Universität zu Köln (1997), ftp.zpr.uni-koeln.de/pub/paper/zpr97-255.ps.gz

  3. Arsie, A., Savla, K., Frazzoli, E.: Efficient routing algorithms for multiple vehicles with no explicit communications. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control 54(10), 2302–2317 (2009)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Baglietto, M., Cannata, G., Capezio, F., Sgorbissa, A.: Multi-robot continuous coverage of significant locations in the environment. In: Asama, H., Kurokawa, H., Ota, J., Sekiyama, K. (eds.) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 8, pp. 3–14. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Balch, T.: Avoiding the past: a simple but effective strategy for reactive navigation. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, vol. 1, pp. 678–685 (1993), doi:10.1109/ROBOT.1993.292057

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bermana, S., Halasz, A., Hsieh, M.A., Kumar, V.: Optimal stochastic policies for task allocation in swarms of robots. IEEE Trans. on Robotics 25(4), 927–937 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bolch, G., Greiner, S., de Meer, H., Trivedi, K.: Queueing Networks and Markov Chains. John Wiley and Sons (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Cannata, G., Sgorbissa, A.: Minimalist algorithms for multi–robot continuous coverage. Tech. rep., DIST, Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemistica e Telematica, Università di Genova, Genova (2010), http://www.robotics.laboratorium.dist.unige.it/index.php?section=5 (accepted for publication on IEEE Transactions on Robotics)

  9. Choset, H.: Coverage path planning: The boustrophedon cellular decomposition. In: Int. Conf. on Field and Service Robotics (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dudek, G., Jenkin, M., Milios, E., Wilkes, D.: Robotic exploration as graph construction. IEEE Trans. on Robotics and Automation 7(6), 859–865 (1991), doi:10.1109/70.105395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Elmaliach, Y., Agmon, N., Kaminka, G.: Multi-robot area patrol under frequency constraints. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 385–390 (2007), doi:10.1109/ROBOT.2007.363817

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ferranti, E., Trigoni, N.: Robot-assisted discovery of evacuation routes in emergency scenarios. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2824–2830 (2008), doi:10.1109/ROBOT.2008.4543638

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gabriely, Y., Rimon, E.: Spanning-tree based coverage of continuous areas by a mobile robot. Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence 31(1-4), 77–98 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gabriely, Y., Rimon, E.: Competitive on-line coverage of grid environments by a mobile robot. Comput. Geom. Theory Appl. 24(3), 197–224 (2003), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-77210200110-4

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Godsil, C., Royle, G.: Algebraic Graph Theory Chains. Springer (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Guo, Y., Parker, L., Madhavan, R.: A multi-robot system for continuous area sweeping tasks. In: Proc. of the Int. Symp. on Collaborative Technologies and Systems, pp. 235–240 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hsieh, M.A., Bermana, S., Halasz, A., Kumar, V.: Biologically inspired redistribution of a swarm of robots among multiple sites. Swarm Intelligence 2(2-4), 121–141 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Huang, W.: Optimal line-sweep-based decompositions for coverage algorithms. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, vol. 1, pp. 27–32 (2001), doi:10.1109/ROBOT, 932525

    Google Scholar 

  19. Karr, A.F.: Markov chains and processes with a prescribed invariant measure. Stochastic Processes and their Applications 7(3), 277–290 (1978)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Kleiner, A., Prediger, J., Nebel, B.: Rfid technology-based exploration and slam for search and rescue. Proc. of the IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2006 pp. 4054–4059 (2006), doi:10.1109/IROS.2006.281867

    Google Scholar 

  21. Koenig, S., Simmons, R.: Easy and hard testbeds for real-time search algorithms. In: Proc. of the Nat. Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 279–285 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Koenig, S., Szymanski, B., Liu, Y.: Efficient and inefficient ant coverage methods. Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence 31(1-4), 41–76 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Korf, R.: Real-time heuristic search. Artif. Intell. 42(2-3), 189–211 (1990), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0004-37029090054-4

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. Levin, D.A., Peres, Y., Wilmer, E.L.: Markov chains and mixing times. American Mathematical Society (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Metropolis, N., Rosenbluth, A.W., Rosenbluth, M.N., Teller, A.H., Teller, E.: Equation of state calculations by fast computing machines. The Journal of Chemical Physics 21(6), 1087–1092 (1953)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Ntafos, S.: Watchman routes under limited visibility. Comput. Geom. Theory Appl. 1(3), 149–170 (1992), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-77219900022-X

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  27. Pirzadeh, A., Snyder, W.: A unified solution to coverage and search in explored and unexplored terrains using indirect control. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, vol. 3, pp. 2113–2119 (1990), doi:10.1109/ROBOT.1990.126317

    Google Scholar 

  28. Wagner, I., Lindenbaum, M., Bruckstein, A.: Distributed covering by ant-robots using evaporating traces. IEEE Trans. on Robotics and Automation 15(5), 918–933 (1999), doi:10.1109/70.795795

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Ziparo, V., Kleiner, A., Nebel, B., Nardi, D.: Rfid-based exploration for large robot teams. In: Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, pp. 4606–4613 (2007), doi:10.1109/ROBOT.2007.364189

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giorgio Cannata .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Cannata, G., Sgorbissa, A. (2013). A Distributed, Real-Time Approach to Multi Robot Uniform Frequency Coverage. In: Martinoli, A., et al. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 83. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32723-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32723-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-32722-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-32723-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics