Cooperative Robotic Systems

Recommended Prerequisites

Robotic Systems and Mobile Robotics.

Teaching Methods

A combination of the following methodologies will be used: a few seminars given by the teacher to introduce the key topics of cooperative robotic systems; research by the student on these key topics, in order to develop afterwards a small research project to be presented in a seminar; tutorial guidance of students during their preparation of the research projects and the development of simulation prototypes.

Learning Outcomes

Provide the students with knowledge about the main research issues of cooperative robotic systems (CRS) and, as well, the advantages and challenges posed by these systems when compared with single-robot systems.

Enable the acquisition of knowledge about the state-of-the-art of CRS and the acquisition of the required competences to develop research work on CRS.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Cooperative robotic system (CRS): motivation and applications.

2. CRS comprising by heterogeneous robots. Differentiation.

3. Cooperation: fundamentals, biological inspiration, and game theory.

4. Taxonomies of CRS: design issues, application domains, and examples.

5. Arquitectures of CRS: centralized systems vs. distributed systems. distributed controlled CRS: swarm robotics vs. explicit cooperation; case studies.

6. Communication in CRS: relevance; types of communication; functional and semantic issues.

7. Efficient information sharing in CRS: relevance; assessing information utility; case studies.

8. Cooperative exploration and multi-robot coordination.

Head Lecturer(s)

Rui Paulo Pinto da Rocha

Assessment Methods

Assessment
The method of assessment includes the evaluation of the small research project, its presentation and defense in a seminar, and, optionally, midterm exams and final exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

[1] Robot Teams: From Diversity to Polymorphism. T. Balch and L. Parker (Eds.). A. K. Peters Ltd., 2002.

[2] Robot Colonies. R. Arkin and G. Bekey (Eds.). Reprinted from Autonomous Robots, 4(1), 1997.

[3] Multi-Robot Systems. From Swarms to Intelligent Automata, Volume III, Proceedings from the 2005 International Workshop on Multi-Robot Systems Parker, Lynne E.; Schneider, Frank E.; Schultz, Alan C. (Eds.), 2005.

[4] Behavior-Based Robotics. R. Arkin. The MIT Press, May 1998.

[5] Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robots. D. Kortenkamp, R. P. Bonasso and R. Murphy (Eds.). AAAI Press/The MIT Press, USA, 1998.