Cooperative planning for physically interacting heterogeneous robots

Front Robot AI. 2024 Mar 13:11:1172105. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2024.1172105. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Heterogeneous multi-agent systems can be deployed to complete a variety of tasks, including some that are impossible using a single generic modality. This paper introduces an approach to solving the problem of cooperative behavior planning in small heterogeneous robot teams where members can both function independently as well as physically interact with each other in ways that give rise to additional functionality. This approach enables, for the first time, the cooperative completion of tasks that are infeasible when using any single modality from those agents comprising the team.

Keywords: cooperative planning; heterogeneous multi-agent systems; hybrid automata; physical interaction; robot planning and control.

Grants and funding

This work has been supported in part by the U.S. Army through a subcontract by PPG under Collaboration Agreement Number 2022016-142122.