Editorial: Advances in Multi-Robot Systems

Abstract

As research progresses in distributed robotic systems, more and more aspects of multi-robot systems are being explored. This special issue on Multi-Robot Systems provides a broad sampling of the research that is currently ongoing in the field of distributed mobile robot systems. To help categorize this research, we have identified seven primary research topics within multi-robot systems --- biological inspirations, communication, architectures, localization/mapping/exploration, object transport and manipulation, motion coordination, and reconfigurable robots. This editorial examines these research areas and discusses the special issue articles in this context. We conclude by identifying several additional open research issues in distributed mobile robotic systems.