We consider a fundamental problem concerning the deployment of a wireless robotic network: to fulfill various end-to-end performance requirements, a "sufficient" number of robotic relays must be deployed to ensure that links are of acceptable quality. Prior work has not addressed how to find this number. We use the properties of Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) based wireless communication to derive an upper bound on the spacing between any transmitter-receiver pair, which directly translates to a lower bound on the number of robots to deploy. We focus on SINR-based performance requirements due to their wide applicability. Next, we show that the bound can be improved by exploiting the geometrical structure of a network, such as linearity in the case of flow-based robotic router networks. Furthermore, we also use the bound on robot count to formulate a lower bound on the number of orthogonal codes required for a high probability of interference free communication. We demonstrate and validate our proposed bounds through simulations.
Bristol Research and Innovation Laboratory, Toshiba Europe Ltd.（东芝欧洲有限公司布里斯托尔研究与创新实验室）
Mobile robots have disrupted the material handling industry which is witnessing radical changes. The requirement for enhanced automation across various industry segments often entails mobile robotic systems operating in logistics facilities with little/no infrastructure. In such environments, out-of-box low-cost robotic solutions are desirable. Wireless connectivity plays a crucial role in successful operation of such mobile robotic systems. A wireless mesh network of mobile robots is an attractive solution; however, a number of system-level challenges create unique and stringent service requi…
Centro Universitario de la Defensa（国防大学中心）；Purdue University（普渡大学）；KTH Royal Institute of Technology（瑞典皇家理工学院）
The Robot Operating System (ROS) is rapidly becoming the de facto framework for building robotics systems, thanks to its flexibility and the large acceptance that it has received in the robotics community. With the growth of its popularity, it has started to be used in multi-robot systems as well. However, the TCP connections that the platform relies on for connecting the so-called ROS nodes, presents several issues in terms of limited-bandwidth, delays and jitter, when used in wireless ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we present a thorough analysis of the problem and propose a new ROS node cal…
In this paper, we propose an operation procedure for our previously developed in-pipe robotic system that is used for water quality monitoring in water distribution systems (WDS). The proposed operation procedure synchronizes a developed wireless communication system that is suitable for harsh environments of soil, water, and rock with a multi-phase control algorithm. The new wireless control algorithm facilitates smart navigation and near real-time wireless data transmission during operation for our in-pipe robot in WDS. The smart navigation enables the robot to pass through different configu…
We introduce our concept on the modular wireless robot consisting of three main modules : main unit, data acquisition and data processing modules. We have developed a generic prototype with an integrated control and monitoring system to enhance its flexibility, and to enable simple operation through a web-based interface accessible wirelessly. In present paper, we focus on the microcontroller based hardware to enable data acquisition and remote mechanical control.
This paper presents the design and implementation of a Human Interface for a housekeeper robot. It bases on the idea of making the robot understand the human needs without making the human go through the details of robots work, for example, the way that the robot implements the work or the method that the robot uses to plan the path in order to reach the work area. The interface commands based on idioms of the natural human language and designed in a manner that the user gives the robot several commands with their execution date/time.
In a diverse set of robotics applications, including RoboCup categories, mobile robots require control commands to interact with surrounding environment correctly. These control commands should come wirelessly to not interfere in robots' movement; also, the communication has a set of requirements, including low latency and consistent delivery. This paper presents a complete communication architecture consisting of computer communication with a base station, which transmits the data to robots and returns robots telemetry to the computer. With the proposed communication, it is possible to send m…
This thesis studies the interference-free workspace (IFW) of arbitrary cable-driven robots (CDRs) for both cables and obstacles using the ray-based method. Continuing from this, the point-to-point path planning and verification technique to ensure that the resulting motion is within the workspace is also studied.
The need for customizable properties in autonomous robotic platforms, such as in-home nursing care for the elderly and parallel implementations of human-to-machine control interfaces creates an opportunity to introduce methods deploying commonly available mobile devices running robotic command applications in managed code. This paper will discuss a human-to-machine interface and demonstrate a prototype consisting of a mobile device running a configurable application communicating with a mobile robot using a managed, type-safe language, C#.NET, over Bluetooth.
Science teaching in secondary schools is often abstract for students. Even if some experiments can be conducted in classrooms, mainly for chemistry or some physics fields, mathematics is not an experimental science. Teachers have to convince students that theorems have practical implications. We present teachers an original and easy-to-use pedagogical tool: a cable-driven robot with a Web-based remote control interface. The robot implements several scientific concepts such as 3D-geometry and kinematics. The remote control enables the teacher to move freely in the classroom.
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Computing (HPCL)（高性能计算国家重点实验室）；School of Computer, National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学计算机学院）
Recent years have witnessed the prosperity of robots and in order to support consensus and cooperation for multi-robot system, wireless communications and networking among robots and the infrastructure have become indispensable. In this technical note, we first provide an overview of the research contributions on communication-aware motion planning (CAMP) in designing wireless-connected robotic networks (WCRNs), where the degree-of-freedom (DoF) provided by motion and communication capabilities embraced by the robots have not been fully exploited. Therefore, we propose the framework of joint c…
Missouri University of Science and Technology（密苏里科技大学）；Wrocław University of Science and Technology（弗罗茨瓦夫理工大学）
This paper deals with random sensors initially randomly deployed on the line according to general random process and on the plane according to two independent general random processes. The mobile robot with carrying capacity $k$ placed at the origin point is to move the sensors to achieve the general scheduling requirement such as coverage, connectivity and thus to satisfy the desired communication property in the network. We study tradeoffs between the energy consumption in robot's movement, the numbers of sensors $n$, the sensor range $r$, the interference distance $s$, and the robot capacit…
University of Colorado at Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；University of California, Berkeley（加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校）
We describe opportunities and challenges with wireless robotic materials. Robotic materials are multi-functional composites that tightly integrate sensing, actuation, computation and communication to create smart composites that can sense their environment and change their physical properties in an arbitrary programmable manner. Computation and communication in such materials are based on miniature, possibly wireless, devices that are scattered in the material and interface with sensors and actuators inside the material. Whereas routing and processing of information within the material build u…
There are many situations where vehicles may compete with each other to maximize their respective utilities.We consider a narrow alley where two groups, eastbound and westbound, of autonomous vehicles are heading toward each of their destination to minimize their travel distance. However, if the two groups approach the road simultaneously, it will be blocked. The main goal of this paper is to investigate how wireless communications among the vehicles can lead the solution near to Pareto optimum. In addition, we implemented such a vehicular test-bed, composed of networked robots that have an in…
University of Calabria（卡拉布里亚大学）；Middlesex University London（伦敦密德萨斯大学）
The mine detection in an unexplored area is an optimization problem where multiple mines, randomly distributed throughout an area, need to be discovered and disarmed in a minimum amount of time. We propose a strategy to explore an unknown area, using a stigmergy approach based on ants behavior, and a novel swarm based protocol to recruit and coordinate robots for disarming the mines cooperatively. Simulation tests are presented to show the effectiveness of our proposed Ant-based Task Robot Coordination (ATRC) with only the exploration task and with both exploration and recruiting strategies. M…
