Task decomposition, distribution, and localization for intelligent robot coordination

Abstract

Robotic applications in unstructured environments in general and in space in particular require robot systems that possess a high degree of autonomy. To achieve such a degree of autonomy a robot system must possess (I) robots with a versatile physical structure (ii) perception and (iii) elaborate techniques for (a) task decomposition distribution and localization and (b) the dynamic specification of the distributed semantics involved in sensorimotor synchronization and the coordination of multiple robots. In this paper we present our developments for the dynamic specification of the distributed semantics of hierarchical multiagent systems and the synchronization of their component agents during task execution. More specifically we present a distributed model of concurrency based on Petri net theory. The model is then applied to the hierarchical decomposition distribution and localization of a bracket assembly task. Each level of the resulting hierarchy horizontally contains the synchronization-structure of task execution and vertically is a generalization ofthe level below and a specialization ofthe level above. The horizontal synchronization-structures developed bythe Petri net model maintain the desirable properties of safeness and liveness by construction.