Publication

Multi-Robot 3D Gas Distribution Mapping: Coordination, Information Sharing and Environmental Knowledge

Abstract

Environmental monitoring and mapping operations are an essential tool to combat climate change. An important branch of this domain concerns the construction of reliable gas maps. Adaptive navigation strategies coupled with multi-robot systems improve the outcome of an environmental mapping mission by focusing more efficiently on informative areas. This direction is yet to be explored in the context of gas mapping, which presents peculiar challenges due to the hard-to-sense and expensive-to-model nature of the underlying phenomenon. In this paper, we introduce the application of a multi-robot system to a gas mission with severe time constraints. We study the impact of information-based navigation strategies, coupled with increasing levels of coordination among the robots, on information gathering and consequent map reconstruction performance. We also focus on proposing solutions that inject additional knowledge into the system to enhance the final mapping outcome. We tested the strategies through extensive high-fidelity simulation experiments, and we compared the proposed approaches to three relevant baseline methods.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related concepts (20)
Robotic sensing
Robotic sensing is a subarea of robotics science intended to provide sensing capabilities to robots. Robotic sensing provides robots with the ability to sense their environments and is typically used as feedback to enable robots to adjust their behavior based on sensed input. Robot sensing includes the ability to see, touch, hear and move and associated algorithms to process and make use of environmental feedback and sensory data.
Robot locomotion
Robot locomotion is the collective name for the various methods that robots use to transport themselves from place to place. Wheeled robots are typically quite energy efficient and simple to control. However, other forms of locomotion may be more appropriate for a number of reasons, for example traversing rough terrain, as well as moving and interacting in human environments. Furthermore, studying bipedal and insect-like robots may beneficially impact on biomechanics.
Robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of electronics and communication, computer science and engineering. Robotics involves the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrates fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, information engineering, mechatronics engineering, electronics, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, control systems engineering, software engineering, mathematics, etc.
Show more
Related publications (44)

Distributed Predictive Formation Control of Autonomous Rotary-Wing Micro Aerial Vehicles

Izzet Kagan Erünsal

This doctoral thesis navigates the complex landscape of motion coordination and formation control within teams of rotary-wing Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). Prompted by the intricate demands of real-world applications such as search and rescue or surveillan ...
EPFL2024

Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency

Mahmut Selman Sakar, Laurent Keller, Fazil Emre Uslu

Division of labour is widely thought to increase the task efficiency of eusocial insects. Workers can switch their task to compensate for sudden changes in demand, providing flexible task allocation. In combination with automated tracking technology, we de ...
2024

Leveraging Multi-Level Modelling to Automatically Design Behavioral Arbitrators in Robotic Controllers

Alcherio Martinoli, Cyrill Silvan Baumann, Hugo Richard Birch

Automatic control design for robotic systems is becoming more and more popular. However, this usually involves a significant computational cost, due to the expensive and noisy evaluation of candidate solutions through highfidelity simulation or even real h ...
2022
Show more
Related MOOCs (11)
Thymio: un robot pour se former à l'informatique
On propose dans ce MOOC de se former à et avec Thymio : apprendre à programmer le robot Thymio et ce faisant, s’initier à l'informatique et la robotique.
The Thymio robot as a tool for discovering digital science
This MOOC teaches basic understanding of robots’ mechanisms and Thymio’s programming languages, classroom use and pedagogical elements.
The Thymio robot as a tool for discovering digital science
This MOOC teaches basic understanding of robots’ mechanisms and Thymio’s programming languages, classroom use and pedagogical elements.
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.