Design of Intelligent Algorithms for Multi-Mobile Robot Systems

Robots are widely being used to replace humans and traditional machines in dangerous fields such as post-disaster relief work. The environments in which the robot system works in could be fixed or dynamic. Their nature can affect the performance of robots. This research focuses on realizing an intelligent locomotion method for a multi-mobile robots system in different types of environments. The significant challenges in the design and development of communication and interaction algorithms for robots with different functions to operate as a whole are addressed. Through the algorithms designed in this research, a multi-mobile robots system should be able to distinguish the types of obstacles it meets and take sensible actions to handle them. Furthermore, robots can interact with each other to guarantee that every robot in the system can move based on a desired route/plan. Emergency handling mechanisms are also added to the algorithm in order for the system to have coping behaviors to enhance its robustness. Additional evaluation of all the functions proposed will be carried out, by integrating a group of prototype wheeled robots into one single group.