Authors: James Motes, Read Sandstrom, Will Adams, Tobi Ogunyale, Shawna Thomas, Nancy M. Amato

Venue: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
DOI: 10.1109/LRA.2019.2923386
Link to Publication

Abstract:
This letter describes a framework for multi-robot problems that require or utilize interactions between robots. Solutions consider interactions on a motion planning level to determine the feasibility and cost of the multi-robot team solution. Modeling these problems with current integrated task and motion planning (TMP) approaches typically requires reasoning about the possible interactions and checking many of the possible robot combinations when searching for a solution. We present a multi-robot planning method called Interaction Templates (ITs), which moves certain types of robot interactions from the task planner to the motion planner. ITs model interactions between a set of robots with a small roadmap. This roadmap is then tiled into the environment and connected to the robots’ individual roadmaps. The resulting combined roadmap allows interactions to be considered by the motion planner. We apply ITs to homogeneous and heterogeneous robot teams under both required and optional cooperation scenarios, which previously required a task planning method. We show improved performance over a current TMP planning approach. 

@article{Motes-itfms-2019, 
 author = {Motes, James and Sandstr{\"o}m, Read and Adams, Will and Ogunyale, Tobi and Thomas, Shawna and Amato, Nancy M}, 
 journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters}, 
 number = {3}, 
 pages = {2926--2933}, 
 publisher = {IEEE}, 
 title = {Interaction templates for multi-robot systems}, 
 volume = {4}, 
 year = {2019} 
}