Homogenous multi-robot system for mapping of unknown environment

Abstract

Aim of this article is to design and to implement autonomous multi-agent system, which is used for effective mapping of unknown environment. Proposed system is compared with single mapping robot. Robots used only simple systems such as odometry and gyro-odometry for their localization. Obstacles are detected by bumpers and IR sensors. System is controlled by superior server and each agent communicates with server by TCP/IP protocol. Activity of each agent is coordinated by server and the generated map is stored in MySQL database. Navigation of each agent is implemented in two levels — local level (obstacle avoidance) and global level (environment examination). System was verified with real robots — several iRobot Create platforms enhanced by own modules. At the end of article, the results prove that even a simple system can be effectively used for environment mapping with relatively good accuracy.