Multi-robot exploration with communication restrictions

Abstract

After a disaster, instability in the environment may delay search and rescue efforts until it is safe enough for human rescuers to enter the environment. Such delays can be significant, but it is still possible to gather information about the environment in the interim, by sending in a team of robots to scout the area and locate points of interest. We present several algorithms to accomplish this exploration, and provide both theoretical proofs and simulation results that show the algorithms will achieve full exploration of an unknown environment even under communication restrictions.