Cluster Space Control of a 2-Robot System as Applied to Autonomous Surface Vessels

PAUL MAHACEK; IGNACIO MAS; OGNJEN PETROVIC; JOSE ACAIN; CHRISTOPHER KITTS

Quebec

Congreso; 2008 MTS/IEEE Oceans Conference; 2008

MTS/IEEE

Multi-robot systems offer many advantages over asingle robot system including redundancy, coverage andflexibility. One of the key technical considerations in fieldingmulti-robot systems for real-world applications is thecoordination of the individual units. The cluster space controltechnique promotes simplified specification and monitoring ofthe motion of mobile multi-robot systems. Previous work hasestablished this approach and has experimentally verified itsuse for land based systems consisting of 2-4 robots and withvarying implementations ranging from automated trajectorycontrol to human-in-the-loop piloting. In this paper, wedescribe a multi-boat system capable of autonomousnavigation using the cluster space control technique. Thetechnical system includes the design and fabrication of a newlow cost autonomous surface vessel (ASV). It also includes acentralized controller, currently implemented via a shorebasedcomputer, that wireless receives ASV data and relaysdrive commands. Using the cluster space control approach,these drive commands allow a pilot to remotely drive a 2-boatcluster or two boats to automatically maintain formation witha third boat. The resulting multi-ASV clusters can bearbitrarily translated, rotated, and resized depending upon theneeds of a specific application. Experimental resultsdemonstrating these capabilities will be provided, and plansfor future work will be discussed.