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Multi-robot coordination through mediation of independent decisions

Resource type
Thesis type
(Thesis) Ph.D.
Date created
2012-08-31
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
This thesis contributes to the understanding of the intentional cooperation in multi-robot systems. We show that in a complex multi-robot system cooperation is achieved implicitly through the mediation of the independent decisions of the individual agents that are made autonomously. We assert that in order for a multi-robot system to accomplish a mission cooperatively, it is necessary for the individuals to proactively contribute to planning, to incremental refinement, as well as to adaptation at the group-level as the state of the mission progresses. We show how the decomposition of a mission delegated to a multi-robot system provides the agents with the ability to make decisions in a distributed fashion. While formulating decision mechanism, we show how the state of a robotic agent with respect to the delegated mission is viewed as two independent internal and external states. Furthermore, we demonstrate the requirement of a priori knowledge in decision process is prevented via incorporation of a simple sub-ranking module into the external state component of the decision mechanism of the robotic agents. While this independent involvement of the robotic agents in decision-making process preserves the autonomy of the individual agents, we show the mediation of these independent decisions does not only ensure proper execution of the plan but serves as a basis for the evolution of the intentional cooperation among the robotic agents.
Document
Identifier
etd7447
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Permissions
The author granted permission for the file to be printed and for the text to be copied and pasted.
Scholarly level
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Payandeh, Shahram
Member of collection
Download file Size
etd7447_SKeshmiri.pdf 3.92 MB

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