Cooperative Robot Teams Applied to the Site Preparation Task

Abstract

Prior to human missions to Mars, infrastructures on Mars that support human survival must be prepared. Robotic teams can assist in these advance preparations in a number of ways. This paper addresses one of these advance robotic team tasks { the site preparation task { by proposing a control structure that allows robot teams to cooperatively solve this aspect of infrastructure preparation. A key question in this context is determining how robots should make decisions on which aspect of the site preparation task to address throughout the mission, especially while operating in rough terrains. This paper describes a control approach to solving this problem that is based upon the ALLIANCE architecture, combined with performance-based rough terrain navigation that addresses path planning and control of mobile robots in rough terrain environments. We present the site preparation task and our proposed cooperative control approach, followed by some of the results of our initial testing of various aspects of the system. KEYWORDS: Multi-robot teams, robot colonies, space applications, site preparation. 1