Adaptive and learning-based formation control of swarm robots

Autonomous aerial and wheeled mobile robots play a major role in tasks such as search and rescue, transportation, monitoring, and inspection. However, these operations are faced with a few open challenges including robust autonomy, and adaptive coordination based on the environment and operating conditions, particularly in swarm robots with limited communication and perception capabilities. Furthermore, the computational complexity increases exponentially with the number of robots in the swarm. This thesis examines two different aspects of the formation control problem. On the one hand, we investigate how formation could be performed by swarm robots with limited communication and perception (e.g., Crazyflie nano quadrotor). On the other hand, we explore human-swarm interaction (HSI) and different shared-control mechanisms between human and swarm robots (e.g., BristleBot) for artistic creation. In particular, we combine bio-inspired (i.e., flocking, foraging) techniques with learning-based control strategies (using artificial neural networks) for adaptive control of multi- robots. We first review how learning-based control and networked dynamical systems can be used to assign distributed and decentralized policies to individual robots such that the desired formation emerges from their collective behavior. We proceed by presenting a novel flocking control for UAV swarm using deep reinforcement learning. We formulate the flocking formation problem as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), and consider a leader-follower configuration, where consensus among all UAVs is used to train a shared control policy, and each UAV performs actions based on the local information it collects. In addition, to avoid collision among UAVs and guarantee flocking and navigation, a reward function is added with the global flocking maintenance, mutual reward, and a collision penalty. We adapt deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) with centralized training and decentralized execution to obtain the flocking control policy using actor-critic networks and a global state space matrix. In the context of swarm robotics in arts, we investigate how the formation paradigm can serve as an interaction modality for artists to aesthetically utilize swarms. In particular, we explore particle swarm optimization (PSO) and random walk to control the communication between a team of robots with swarming behavior for musical creation

Spatio-Temporal Patterns act as Computational Mechanisms governing Emergent behavior in Robotic Swarms

open access articleOur goal is to control a robotic swarm without removing its swarm-like nature. In other words, we aim to intrinsically control a robotic swarm emergent behavior. Past attempts at governing robotic swarms or their selfcoordinating emergent behavior, has proven ineffective, largely due to the swarm’s inherent randomness (making it difficult to predict) and utter simplicity (they lack a leader, any kind of centralized control, long-range communication, global knowledge, complex internal models and only operate on a couple of basic, reactive rules). The main problem is that emergent phenomena itself is not fully understood, despite being at the forefront of current research. Research into 1D and 2D Cellular Automata has uncovered a hidden computational layer which bridges the micromacro gap (i.e., how individual behaviors at the micro-level influence the global behaviors on the macro-level). We hypothesize that there also lie embedded computational mechanisms at the heart of a robotic swarm’s emergent behavior. To test this theory, we proceeded to simulate robotic swarms (represented as both particles and dynamic networks) and then designed local rules to induce various types of intelligent, emergent behaviors (as well as designing genetic algorithms to evolve robotic swarms with emergent behaviors). Finally, we analysed these robotic swarms and successfully confirmed our hypothesis; analyzing their developments and interactions over time revealed various forms of embedded spatiotemporal patterns which store, propagate and parallel process information across the swarm according to some internal, collision-based logic (solving the mystery of how simple robots are able to self-coordinate and allow global behaviors to emerge across the swarm)

Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

Quadcopter Attitude Control Optimization and Multi-Agent Coordination

This thesis presents a method of automated control gain tuning for a Quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and proposes a method of coordination multiple autonomous robotic agents capable for formation aggregation. Sliding Mode Control for Quadcopter altitude and attitude stabilization is presented and tuned using Particle Swarm Optimization. Different configurations for the optimization process are compared to determine an effective and time-efficient setup to complete the control gain tuning. The multi-agent coordination scheme expands upon an existing adjustable swarm framework based on an Artificial Potential Field Sliding Mode Controller. The original leader-follower scheme is modified with the goal of producing a leaderless swarm where agents move towards specific locations to aggregate a desired formation. Analysis of the swarm control scheme pays particular attention to maintaining proper distance between agents. Using Lyapunov methods following that of the original controller analysis, stability under first order and general higher order dynamics is analyzed. Numerical simulations of the swarm controller using agents with nonlinear Quadcopter or second order point mass dynamics are presented to illustrate the capabilities of this algorithm. The automatically tuned Quadcopter controller is used in simulations when applicable. The development of an experimental test platform is discussed with the intention of validating the simulation results on physical Quadcopters

Autonomous Swarm Navigation

Robotic swarm systems attract increasing attention in a wide variety of applications, where a multitude of self-organized robotic entities collectively accomplish sensing or exploration tasks. Compared to a single robot, a swarm system offers advantages in terms of exploration speed, robustness against single point of failures, and collective observations of spatio-temporal processes. Autonomous swarm navigation, including swarm self-localization, the localization of external sources, and swarm control, is essential for the success of an autonomous swarm application. However, as a newly emerging technology, a thorough study of autonomous swarm navigation is still missing. In this thesis, we systematically study swarm navigation systems, particularly emphasizing on their collective performance. The general theory of swarm navigation as well as an in-depth study on a specific swarm navigation system proposed for future Mars exploration missions are covered. Concerning swarm localization, a decentralized algorithm is proposed, which achieves a near-optimal performance with low complexity for a dense swarm network. Regarding swarm control, a position-aware swarm control concept is proposed. The swarm is aware of not only the position estimates and the estimation uncertainties of itself and the sources, but also the potential motions to enrich position information. As a result, the swarm actively adapts its formation to improve localization performance, without losing track of other objectives, such as goal approaching and collision avoidance. The autonomous swarm navigation concept described in this thesis is verified for a specific Mars swarm exploration system. More importantly, this concept is generally adaptable to an extensive range of swarm applications