CMU RI Thesis Proposal: A Constraint Based Approach to Interleaving Planning and Execution for Multirobot Coordination

Speaker: Mary Koes, RI, CMU
Date: 14 Dec. 2005
Time: 10:30 AM
Location: 14 Dec. 2005

Abstract:
Enabling multiple robots to work together as a team is a difficult problem. Robots must decide amongst themselves who should work on which goals and at what time each goal should be achieved. Since the team is situated in some physical environment, the robots must consider travel time in these decisions. This is particularly challenging in time critical domains where goal rewards decrease over time and for tightly coupled coordination where multiple robots must work together on each goal. Further complications arise when the system is subjected to additional constraints on the ordering of the goals, the use of resources, or the allocation of robots to goals. Optimal team behavior can only be achieved when robots simultaneously consider path planning, task allocation, scheduling, and these additional system constraints. In dynamic and uncertain environments, robots need to reevaluate these decisions as they discover new information. Communication failures may mean that robots are unable to consult as a whole team while replanning. The proposed thesis addresses these challenges with four main points.

Further details:
A copy of the thesis proposal document can be found at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mberna/research/proposal.pdf.