Strategies for navigation of robot swarms to be used in landmines detection

Abstract

The paper presents a novel approach to the detection of anti-personnel landmines that uses teams of cooperating robots. Following hints that originate both from classical robotics and from biology, we aim to define a set of search strategies suitable for use in an obstacle-cluttered, two-dimensional space. The paper presents the guidelines of the project, the search strategies that were developed, and a description of a simulator that was designed and implemented to test them. Brief reviews of the available techniques, of the sensor technologies, and of the current uses of robotic devices in humanitarian demining are also included.