Expedited Award for Novel Research: Models of Cooperative Robotic Systems

PI提议探索机器群（如机器人）在实现共同目标时的自主交互，特别是在比典型生产线结构更少的环境中。新的模型将被探索，这可能导致合作机器人的系统理论。该方法将借鉴团队理论研究的背景，但并不局限于该方法。团队理论的早期应用（例如，在其最初的经济学学科中，以及后来在非集中最优控制中）并没有取得太大成功，显然是因为所有“参与者”都有一个共同目标的限制性假设。这个假设似乎对协作机器是有效的。这项研究得到了新研究加速奖励程序的支持。

The PI has proposed to explore the autonomous interaction of groups of machines such as robots in working toward common goals, especially in less-structured environments than the typical production line. New models will be explored, which could lead to a system theory for cooperative robots. The approach will draw on a background of team theory research, but will not be limited to that approach. Earlier applications of team theory (eg, in its original discipline of economics, and later in cecentralized optimal control) have not been terribly successful, apparently because of the restrictive assumption that all "players" share a single goal. This assumption appears to be valid for cooperating machines. The research is supported under the Expedited Awards for Novel Research procedure.