Exploiting the Interactions Between Robotic Autonomy and Networks

Abstract

Abstract For teams of autonomous robots to fully utilize their distributed problem solving and collaboration capabilities, they require a self-organizing, self-healing, multi-hop communication network. Robot teams compose a unique kind of multi-hop network because the adaptive networking algorithms reside in the same architecture as the algorithms for performing motion and mission taskings. Providing timely access to current and predictive information across these subsystems can impart a new “sensory ” perception to the robot as well as allow the ad hoc network to more efficiently and effectively perform its role. We present an operational architecture which allows blackboard-style sharing of information between autonomous robot controllers and ad hoc networking protocols.