Collaborative Object Search Using Heterogeneous Mobile Robots

Abstract

Object search is a complex and demanding task, especially in an unknown or partially known environment; therefore, having an adequate strategy to enhance this task is essential. With recent advances in robotics systems, a single robot could perform complex autonomous object finding tasks, nevertheless, using a team of heterogeneous robots this task can be sped up by combining the individual capabilities of the robots. In this work, a strategy to search an object and reach its location is presented. The proposed strategy is based on the exploration of an unknown environment through the collaboration of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) and a ground vehicle. To evaluate the proposed strategy, a virtual structured environment was built in which there is a UAV, equipped with a monocular camera pointing downwards, and a differential drive robot equipped with a depth sensor.