Pervasive Sensor-less Networks for Cooperative Multi-robot Tasks

Abstract

A number of researchers are investigating the use of embedded sensor networks to facilitate mobile robot activities. Previous studies focus individual tasks (e.g. navigation to a goal) using networks of several to tens of expensive (≈ $100) nodes placed by the robots themselves or in predetermined geometric grids. In this work we explore the use of tens up to hundreds of simple and cheap (≈ $10) sensorless nodes placed arbitrarily to support a complex multi-robot foraging task. Experiments were conducted in a multi-robot simulation system. Quantitative results illustrate the sensitivity of the approach to different network sizes, environmental complexities, and deployment configurations. In particular, we investigate how performance is impacted by the density and precision of network node placement.