Distributed Control of Heterogeneous Robotic System for Area Exploration

区域探索异构机器人系统的分布式控制

• 批准号: 250019-2012
• 负责人: Mann, George
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: Memorial University of Newfoundland
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=524889
• 关键词: Distributed; Control; Heterogeneous; Robotic; System

The main objective of this research is to develop a distributed control system for autonomous operations of multiple heterogeneous robots to collaboratively perform a task/tasks in an uncertain environment. The heterogeneous robots include both ground mobile robots and micro-aerial vehicles (MAV) having different sensor and control capabilities. The capabilities developed in this research can be extended for a variety of industrial applications, such as surveillance, exploration and mapping of areas that are not accessible for humans (e.g. abandoned mines or hazardous areas), underground mining, search and rescue, and also for other tasks involving multi-robotic coordination. The research specifically develops methods to address distributed localization, exploration and control architecture of combined ground aerial teams. MAV`s are progressively becoming the preferred choice for indoor surveillance and search operations. The high degrees of freedom of the MAV allows navigation in cluttered indoor settings. It can maneuver through multi floor buildings with fast searches in a 3D perspective, relative to its ground based alternatives. The limited payload of MAV`s introduce constraints related to flight time, sensors and processing power of the devices, crippling its localization ability and effectiveness of the overall mission. On the other hand the ground robots are available with a range of sizes and they have the ability to provide faster processing, long range sensing and highly accurate localization information. Therefore, exploration missions are progressively moving towards multi agent implementations to harness the relative capabilities. The proposal includes several main research components; a higher level control architecture for distributed control of aerial and ground robots, formation control and tracking using visual attention, shared and mutual localization of different vehicles, MAV pose estimate and trajectory control, and finally sensor fusion and data analysis for localization and mapping (SLAM).

本研究的主要目的是开发一种分布式控制系统，用于多个异质机器人的自主操作，以便在不确定的环境中协同执行一个或多个任务。异质机器人包括地面移动机器人和具有不同传感器和控制能力的微型飞行器(MAV)。这项研究开发的能力可以扩展到各种工业应用，例如对人类无法进入的区域(例如，废弃的地雷或危险区域)的监视、勘探和测绘，地下采矿、搜索和救援，以及涉及多机器人协调的其他任务。这项研究专门开发了解决联合地面航空队的分布式定位、探测和控制架构的方法。无人机正逐渐成为室内监视和搜索行动的首选。MAV的高自由度允许在杂乱的室内环境中导航。相对于地面上的替代产品，它可以在3D视角下快速搜索，在多层建筑中进行机动。MAV有限的有效载荷引入了与飞行时间、传感器和设备处理能力相关的限制，削弱了其定位能力和整体任务的有效性。另一方面，地面机器人有各种尺寸，它们有能力提供更快的处理、远程传感和高精度的定位信息。因此，勘探任务正在逐步转向多代理实施，以利用相关能力。该方案包括几个主要研究部分；用于空中和地面机器人分布式控制的高层控制体系结构；基于视觉注意的编队控制和跟踪；不同飞行器的共享和相互定位；MAV姿态估计和轨迹控制；以及传感器融合和数据分析用于定位和测绘(SLAM)。