Organizational Unit:
Mobile Robot Laboratory

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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Behavior-based Formation Control for Multi-robot Teams

1999 , Arkin, Ronald C. , Balch, Tucker

New reactive behaviors that implement formations in multi-robot teams are presented and evaluated. The formation behaviors are integrated with other navigational behaviors to enable a robotic team to reach navigational goals, avoid hazards and simultaneously remain in formation. The behaviors are implemented in simulation, on robots in the laboratory and aboard DARPA's HMMWV-based Unmanned Ground Vehicles. The technique has been integrated with the Autonomous Robot Architecture (AuRA) and the UGV Demo II architecture. The results demonstrate the value of various types of formations in autonomous, human-led and communications-restricted applications, and their appropriateness in different types of task environments.

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AuRA: Principles and Practice in Review

1997 , Arkin, Ronald C. , Balch, Tucker

This paper reviews key concepts of the Autonomous Robot Architecture {AuRA}. Its structure, strengths, and roots in biology are presented. AuRA is a hybrid deliberative/reactive robotic architecture that has been developed and refined over the past decade. In this article, particular focus is placed on the reactive behavioral component of this hybrid architecture. Various real world robots that have been implemented using this architectural paradigm are discussed, including a case study of a multiagent robotic team that competed and won the 1994 AAAI Mobile Robot Competition.

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Cooperative Multiagent Robotic Systems

1997 , Arkin, Ronald C. , Balch, Tucker

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Communication in Reactive Multiagent Robotic Systems

1994 , Balch, Tucker , Arkin, Ronald C.

Multiple cooperating robots are able to complete many tasks more quickly and reliably than one robot alone. Communication between the robots can multiply their capabilities and effectiveness, but to what extent? In this research, the importance of communication in robotic societies is investigated through experiments on both simulated and real robots. Performance was measured for three different types of communication for three different tasks. The levels of communication are progressively more complex and potentially more expensive to implement. For some tasks, communication can significantly improve performance, but for others inter-agent communication is apparently unnecessary. In cases where communication helps, the lowest level of communication is almost as effective as the more complex type. The bulk of these results are derived from thousands of simulations run with randomly generated initial conditions. The simulation results help determine appropriate parameters for the reactive control system which was ported for tests on Denning mobile robots.

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Design and Implementation of a Teleautonomous Hummer

1997 , Ali, Khaled Subhi , Arkin, Ronald C. , Balch, Tucker , Bentivegna, Darrin Charles

Autonomous and semi-autonomous full-sized ground vehicles are becoming increasingly important, particularly in military applications. Here we describe the instrumentation of one such vehicle, a 4-wheel drive Hummer, for autonomous robotic operation. Actuators for steering, brake, and throttle have been implemented on a commercially available Hummer. Control is provided by on-board and remote computation. On-board computation includes a PC-based control computer coupled to feedback sensors for the steering wheel, brake, and forward speed; and a Unix workstation for high-level control. A radio link connects the on-board computers to an operator's remote workstation running the Georgia Tech MissionLab system. The paper describes the design and implementation of this integrated hardware/software system that translates a remote human operator's commands into directed motion of the vehicle. Telerobotic control of the hummer has been demonstrated in outdoor experiments.

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Buzz, An Instantiation of a Schema-Based Reactive Robotic System

1993 , Arkin, Ronald C. , Balch, Tucker , Collins, Thomas Riley , Henshaw, Andrew M. , MacKenzie, Douglas Christopher , Nitz, Elizabeth , Rodriguez, David , Ward, Keith Ronald

The Georgia Tech entry to the AAAI Mobile Robot Competition, a schema-based reactive robotic system, is described. New developments are presented including the introduction of two novel behaviors probe and avoid-past, specialized planning and sensing strategies, and a transputer implementation of the reactive control system.