A motion planning framework with connectivity management for multiple cooperative robots

Abstract

This paper proposes a decentralized motion planning algorithm for multiple cooperative robots subject to constraints imposed by sensors and the communication network. It consists of decentralized receding horizon planners that reside on each vehicle to navigate to individual target positions. A routing algorithm which modify the network topology based on the position of the robots and the limited range of transmitters and receivers, enables to reduce the communication link failures. A comparative study between the proposed algorithm and other existing algorithms is provided in order to show the advantages especially in terms of traveling time and communication link failure. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.