Distributed fault detection and recovery for networked robots

Abstract

The paper deals with the problem of decentralized fault detection, isolation and recovery for teams of networked robots. The proposed strategy is a combination of distributed and local approaches that allow the robots to deal with both recoverable and unrecoverable faults. A local adaptive fault observer is used to locally compensate recoverable faults, while a distributed fault detection and isolation strategy is used to allow each robot to detect unrecoverable faults on other teammates even if not directly connected; once the faulty robots have been isolated, they are removed from the team and the mission is rearranged. Results of numerical simulations and experiments involving a team of 5 mobile robots are provided to show the effectiveness of the approach.