Multi-robot odor source search based on Cuckoo search algorithm in ventilated indoor environment

Abstract

Due to the influence of turbulence, the practical gas plume in ventilated indoor environment is fluctuant and intermittent. In this case, the problem of odor source localization is quite complicated for robots. This paper proposes a novel odor source localization strategy based on cuckoo search algorithm by a group of mobile robots. This proposed algorithm combines the upwind search and local gas concentration optimization mechanism. It utilizes a robot which detects the highest gas concentration among all robots to guide other robots to search odor source in its upwind direction. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can coordinate multiple robots to search odor source efficiently in dynamic plume environment. Using this strategy, the robots can also escape from both local high concentration and eddy areas.