TY - GEN
T1 - Swarming-based mobile target following using limited-capability mobile mini-robots
AU - Fan, Li
AU - Dasgupta, Prithviraj
AU - Cheng, Ke
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Locating and tracking mobile objects or targets using dynamically assigned multi-robot teams operating within an unknown or partially-known environment is an important problem in many applications of autonomous systems. Several approaches such as CMOMMT and pursuit-evasion games have been proposed to address this problem. However, each of these techniques requires specific sensors and/or considerable computational capabilities on each robot. In this paper, we consider the problem of locating and following mobile targets in an unknown environment, but only using inexpensive mini-robots with limited computation capabilities and less-sophisticated sensors. Our proposed technique is inspired by the swarming behavior observed in social insects such as ants when their nest is migrated to a different region, or when a food source they are traveling to is obstructed. We present detailed empirical analyzes of our proposed algorithm for mobile target following using a realistic model of e-puck robots within the Webots robot simulator. Our results show that our mobile target following mechanism enables limited-capability pursuer robots to successfully follow mobile targets under different operational and environment conditions.
AB - Locating and tracking mobile objects or targets using dynamically assigned multi-robot teams operating within an unknown or partially-known environment is an important problem in many applications of autonomous systems. Several approaches such as CMOMMT and pursuit-evasion games have been proposed to address this problem. However, each of these techniques requires specific sensors and/or considerable computational capabilities on each robot. In this paper, we consider the problem of locating and following mobile targets in an unknown environment, but only using inexpensive mini-robots with limited computation capabilities and less-sophisticated sensors. Our proposed technique is inspired by the swarming behavior observed in social insects such as ants when their nest is migrated to a different region, or when a food source they are traveling to is obstructed. We present detailed empirical analyzes of our proposed algorithm for mobile target following using a realistic model of e-puck robots within the Webots robot simulator. Our results show that our mobile target following mechanism enables limited-capability pursuer robots to successfully follow mobile targets under different operational and environment conditions.
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U2 - 10.1109/SIS.2009.4937860
DO - 10.1109/SIS.2009.4937860
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:67650496131
SN - 9781424427628
T3 - 2009 IEEE Swarm Intelligence Symposium, SIS 2009 - Proceedings
SP - 168
EP - 175
BT - 2009 IEEE Swarm Intelligence Symposium, SIS 2009 - Proceedings
T2 - 2009 IEEE Swarm Intelligence Symposium, SIS 2009
Y2 - 30 March 2009 through 2 April 2009
ER -