Reactivity and Deliberation: A Survey on Multi-Robot Systems

2015

Multi Robot System (MRS) is one of the most important research areas in the field of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. The study of Multi Robot Systems may take many aspects; therefore, it is useful to study the Multi Robot Systems from a specific point of view to get a more focused idea. In this paper, we present a review of the recent trends in Multi Robot Systems research by focusing at the collaborative aspect. Furthermore, we address the structure of Multi Robot Systems, their applications and the techniques and algorithms used in the collaborative MRS.

Journal of Asian Scientific Research, 2017

This paper gives a deeper look at the robotic Multi Agent System. Multi Agent System gained widespread identification in the mid 1990's and it has achieved interests internationally also. Internet has become the main medium for the open distributed systems which has stimulated the growth of agents as a software prototype. Multi agent systems seem to serve as a personification for deducing and constituting an ample range of artificial social systems. The scope of multi agent system is not limited to single domain but it finds applications in many different fields. The work highlights about the agents in M.A.S, the environment which is suitable for their working and the problems that are faced by the agents and how to cure them efficiently.

Artificial Intelligence, 2017

Autonomous robots facing a diversity of open environments and performing a variety of tasks and interactions need explicit deliberation in order to fulfill their missions. Deliberation is meant to endow a robotic system with extended, more adaptable and robust functionalities, as well as reduce its deployment cost. The ambition of this survey is to present a global overview of deliberation functions in robotics and to discuss the state of the art in this area. The following five deliberation functions are identified and analyzed: planning, acting, monitoring, observing, and learning. The paper introduces a global perspective on these deliberation functions and discusses their main characteristics, design choices and constraints. The reviewed contributions are discussed with respect to this perspective. The survey focuses as much as possible on papers with a clear robotics content and with a concern on integrating several deliberation functions.

2018 XLIV Latin American Computer Conference (CLEI), 2018

In this paper, we study the emergent behaviors in a multi-robot system. The multi-robot system uses a model for decision making that is composed of three levels: one individual, one collective, and another for the knowledge and learning management. In particular, the individual level, the base of the emergent behavior of the system, is composed of a module of perception/interpretation, an executing module and a behavioral module that has an emotional component, a reactive component, a cognitive component and a social component. In this paper, we analyze the robot performance, in order to produce an emergent behavior in the system. We present an example of an emergent scenario, and study its instantiation in our multi-robot architecture.

2012

In the field of robotics, typical, single-robot systems encounter limits when executing complex tasks. Todays systems often lack flexibility and inter-operability, especially when interaction between participants is necessary. Nevertheless, well developed systems for robotics and for the cognitive and distributive domain are available. What is missing is the common link between these two domains. This work deals with the foundations and methods of a middle layer that joins a multi-agent system with a multi-robot system in a generic way. A prototype system consisting of a multiagent system, a multi-robot system and a middle layer will be presented and evaluated. Its purpose is to combine highlevel cognitive models and information distribution with robotfocused abilities, such as navigation and reactive behavior based artificial intelligence. This enables the assignment of various scenarios to a team of mobile robots.

The research reported in this paper is part of a project investigating distributed control architectures for groups of autonomous robots. The focus of this paper is on modelling interaction patterns occurring in robot group behaviour. As such, we do not focus on defining control architectures for individual robots, instead, we focus on individual behaviour patterns to develop a formal theory of group behaviour resulting from multiple robot interaction. The problem underlying the research is that concepts relating to group behaviour have to be imposed upon the robots and the understanding of these patterns will lead to more efficient control and the realisation of cooperative tasks that would not be possible otherwise. The paper considers a balanced conflict in a system of three robots where action comes to a halt and a slightly deviating conflict in which action is continued in a predictable pattern. We prove how the group behaves in both types of conflicts. We introduce practical constraints of robot design such as limitations of a sensory system and discuss simulations of both types of conflicts incorporating these constraints. Having proved the behaviour of the group starting from these conflicts, the conflicts might be used to test and calibrate robots; we discuss the constraints to meet.

2008

Abstract This paper presents an agent-based architecture for a multi-robot system. The proposed architecture combines the hierarchical and the decentralized approaches in order to increase the robustness of the multi-robot system to component failure and decrease the computation and communication load. Processes are split into two layers: a cognitive layer, where the higher brain functions take place, and an action layer, where the low level functions take place.

2012 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), 2012

In the field of robotics, typical, single-robot systems encounter limits when executing complex tasks. Todays systems often lack flexibility and inter-operability, especially when interaction between participants is necessary. Nevertheless, well developed systems for robotics and for the cognitive and distributive domain are available. What is missing is the common link between these two domains. This work deals with the foundations and methods of a middle layer that joins a multi-agent system with a multi-robot system in a generic way. A prototype system consisting of a multiagent system, a multi-robot system and a middle layer will be presented and evaluated. Its purpose is to combine highlevel cognitive models and information distribution with robotfocused abilities, such as navigation and reactive behavior based artificial intelligence. This enables the assignment of various scenarios to a team of mobile robots.

Applications of Mobile Robots [Working Title]

Research in the area of cooperative multi-agent robot systems has received wide attention among researchers in recent years. The main concern is to find the effective coordination among autonomous agents to perform the task in order to achieve a high quality of overall performance. Therefore, this paper reviewed various selected literatures primarily from recent conference proceedings and journals related to cooperation and coordination of multi-agent robot systems (MARS). The problems, issues, and directions of MARS research have been investigated in the literature reviews. Three main elements of MARS which are the type of agents, control architectures, and communications were discussed thoroughly in the beginning of this paper. A series of problems together with the issues were analyzed and reviewed, which included centralized and decentralized control, consensus, containment, formation, task allocation, intelligences, optimization and communications of multi-agent robots. Since the research in the field of multi-agent robot research is expanding, some issues and future challenges in MARS are recalled, discussed and clarified with future directions. Finally, the paper is concluded with some recommendations with respect to multi-agent systems.

This paper describes the design of an architecture for multi-robots systems with emergent behavior. The platform must manage the dynamics in the system, so to enable the emergence therein. The architecture is divided into three levels. The first level provides local support to the robot, manages its processes of action, perception and communication, as well as its behavioral component. The behavioral component considers the reactive, cognitive, social and affective aspects of a robot, which influence its behavior and how it interacts with the environment and with the other robots in the system. The second level provides support to the collective processes of the system, as are the mechanisms of cooperation, collaboration, planning, and/or negotiation, which may be needed at any given time. This level of the architecture is based on the emerging coordination concept. The third level is responsible by the knowledge management and learning processes, both individually and collectively, that are occurring in the system

Robotica, 1991

SUMMARY The use of Multi-Agent Systems as a Distributed AI paradigm for Robotics is the principal aim of our present work. In this paper we consider the needed concepts and a suitable architecture for a set of Agents in order to make it possible for them to cooperate in solving non-trivial tasks.

In the summer of 1999 the Azzurra Robot Team wins the second prize in the RoboCup competition in Stockholm. In the semifinals , ART defeats the illustrious CS Freiburg (world champion in Paris 1998, Melbourne 2000, and Seattle 2001) in an unforgettable match that almost causes a heart attack in the supporters of either team. However, in the finals, ART is in difficulty against the very strong and quick team from Sharif CE University, Iran. Sharif players, which have been defeated by ART in the eliminatory rounds, seem to have learnt the lesson. Taking advantage of their undoubted superiority in mechanics, and the robustness of their vision and control algorithms (which, incredibly, run in MSDOS, the OS image being loaded from a bootable disquette), Sharif players are able to easily dribble ART players and to score three times before the end of the match, thus winning the first prize with a final score of 3-1. In contrast with this preamble, RoboCup is not the subject of the discussion here: ART is rather taken as a case study of a "successful" Multi Robot system with very unique characteristics. This is perfectly in accordance with the declared purposes of RoboCup; that is, favouring scientific and technological advancements in robotics and embedded AI with the final aim of transferring the achieved results to real-world applications (Kitano et al., 1998). The choice of robotic soccer as a test field for the design of "autonomous agents" is justified by the intuition that-in most real-world scenarios-a step ahead towards Multi Robot systems is fundamental, if one wants to address issues such as efficiency, fault tolerance, quick response to user requests, or simply consider tasks which cannot be achieved by a single robot. Some examples are autonomous surveillance, rescue operations in large-scale disasters such as earthquakes or fires, humanitarian demining, cooperative manipulation or transportations of objects and furniture, autonomous explorations on desert areas, abandoned mines, or remote planets. To fully take benefit of the larger number of available resources, coordination is important if not essential; the underlying assumption in RoboCup is that these issues can be in part investigated by trying to coordinate a team of soccer-playing robots. In this context, ART uniqueness is not due to the robots' perceptual skills, the mechanisms adopted for behaviour selection and execution, their coordination, localization, or planning capabilities. Its peculiarity is rather the extreme heterogeneity of the team itself: differently from the usual approach, in which a team is designed and built within a single University or

This thesis presents a new framework for developing, coordinating, and managing a system of situated agents for operation in distributed spatial environments. The framework was developed using agent-oriented software engineering techniques that consider concurrent features of real systems. It provides a realistic development environment that ensures reliable deployment of coordination schemes and mechanisms in real contexts. This thesis would have not been possible without the support and encouragement of many people whom I would like to sincerely thank. First and foremost, thank you to my supervisors, Dr. Maryam Purvis and Professor Martin Purvis for providing invaluable support and advice throughout the course of this thesis. Your support and guidance over the last five years that I have known you has been unbelievable. For that and everything else you have done, I am eternally grateful. Thank you! I also would like to thank Mariusz Nowostawski, Mark George, Vincent Goh and

2000

ó Multi-Robot Systems (MRS) are, nowadays, an im- portant research area within Robotics and Articial Intelligence and a growing number of systems has been recently presented in the literature. Since application domains and tasks that are faced by MRS are of increasing complexity, the ability of the robots to cooperate can be regarded as a fundamental feature. In this paper,

Abstract. This paper advocates the application of multi-agent techniques in the realisation of social robotic behaviour. We present an architecture which commissions agent-based deliberation without sacrificing the reactive qualities necessary in a real world domain, and which is situated within a social landscape through the use of an Agent Communication Language. Keywords: multi-robot systems, agent-based robotics, agent architectures, agent communication languages, co-ordination and collaboration.