An experimental platform to communicate between a set of mobile robots through a wireless network has been developed. The mobile robots get their position through a camera which performs as sensor. The video images are processed in a PC and a Waspmote card sends the corresponding position to each robot using the ZigBee standard. A distributed control algorithm based on event-triggered communications has been designed and implemented to bring the robots into the desired formation. Each robot communicates to its neighbors only at event times. Furthermore, a simulation tool has been developed to design and perform experiments with the system. An example of usage is presented.
References
[1]
Franchi, L.; Freda, G.O.; Vendittelli, M. The sensor-based random graph method for cooperative robot exploration. IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron 2009, 14, 163–175, doi:10.1109/TMECH.2009.2013617.
[2]
Magnenat, S.; Rétornaz, P.; Bonani, M.; Longchamp, V.; Mondada, F. ASEBA: A modular architecture for event-based control of complex robots. IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron 2011, 6, 321–329.
[3]
Olfati-Saber, R.; Fax, J.; Murray, R. Consensus and cooperation in networked multi-agent systems. IEEE Proc. 2007, 95, 215–233, doi:10.1109/JPROC.2006.887293.
[4]
Lian, F.-L.; Moyne, J.; Tilbury, D. Network design consideration for distributed control systems. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 2002, 10, 297–307, doi:10.1109/87.987076.
[5]
Astr？m, K.; Bernhardsson, B. Comparison of Riemann and Lebesgue Sampling for First Order Stochastic Systems. Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Las Vegas, NA, USA, 10–13 December 2002; pp. 2011–2016.
[6]
Tabuada, P. Event-triggered real-time scheduling of stabilizing control tasks. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2007, 52, 1680–1685, doi:10.1109/TAC.2007.904277.
[7]
Rabi, M.; Johansson, K.H.; Johansson, M. Optimal Stopping for Event-Triggered Sensing and Actuation. Proceedings of 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Cancun, Mexico, 9–11 December 2008; pp. 3607–3612.
[8]
Dimarogonas, D.V.; Frazzoli, E.; Johansson, K.H. Distributed event-triggered control for multi-agent systems. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2012, 57, 1291–1297, doi:10.1109/TAC.2011.2174666.
[9]
Mazo, M.; Tabuada, P. Decentralized event-triggered control over wireless sensor/actuator networks. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2011, 56, 2456–2461, doi:10.1109/TAC.2011.2164036.
[10]
Wang, X.; Lemmon, M.D. Event-triggering in distributed networked control systems. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2011, 56, 586–601, doi:10.1109/TAC.2010.2057951.
[11]
Marchand, N.; Durand, S.; Guerrero-Castellanos, J.F. A general formula for event-based stabilization of nonlinear systems. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2013, 58, 1332–1337, doi:10.1109/TAC.2012.2225493.
[12]
Macdonald, E.A. Multi-Robot Assignment Formation Control. M.Sc. Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, 7 June 2011.
[13]
Huang, J.; Farritor, S.M.; Qadi, A.; Goddard, S. Localization and follow-the-leader control of a heterogeneous group of mobile robots. IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron 2006, 11, 205–215, doi:10.1109/TMECH.2006.871100.
[14]
Mehrjerdi, H.; Saad, M.; Ghommam, M.J. Hierarchical fuzzy cooperative control and path following for a team of mobile robots. IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron 2011, 16, 907–917, doi:10.1109/TMECH.2010.2054101.
[15]
Cruz, D.; Mcclintock, J.; Perteet, B.; Orqueda, O.; Cao, Y.; Fierro, R. A multivehicle platform for research in networked embedded systems. IEEE Control Syst. 2007, 27, 58–78.
[16]
Durand, S.; Minet, J.; Guerrero, J.F.; Marchand, N. ASYNCAR, a Radio-Controlled Vehicle for Asynchronous Experiments Implementation of an Event-Based Cruise Control. Proceedings of 8th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Computing Science and Automatic Control, Merida City, Mexico, 26– 28 October 2011; pp. 1–6.
[17]
Casani, M.; Garulli, A.; Giannitrapani, A.; Vicino, A. A LEGO Mindstorms Multi-Robot Setup in the Automatic Control Telelab. Proceedings of 18th International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Word Congress, Milano, Italy, 28 August– 2 September 2011; pp. 9812–9817.
[18]
Maze, M.; Wan, Y.; Namuduri, K.; Varanasi, M. A LEGO Mindstorms NXT-Based Test Bench for Cohesive Distributed Multi-Agent Exploratory Systems; Mobility and Coordination Proc.: Garden Grove, CA, USA, 2012; pp. 2000–2013.
[19]
Fu, G.; Corradi, P.; Menciassi, A.; Dario, P. An integrated triangulation laser scanner for obstacle detection of miniature mobile robots in indoor environment. IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron. 2011, 16, 778–783, doi:10.1109/TMECH.2010.2084582.
[20]
Espinosa, F.; Santos, C.; Marrón-Romera, M.; Pizarro, D.; Valdés, F.; Dongil, J. Odometry and laser scanner fusion based on a discrete extended kalman filter for robotic platooning guidance. Sensors 2011, 11, 8339–8357, doi:10.3390/s110908339. 22164079
[21]
Chaos, D. Control no lineal de vehículos subactuados marinos no-holonómicos. Ph.D. Thesis, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain, 10 December 2011.
[22]
Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas S.L. Waspmote Datasheet. Available online: http://www.libelium.com/downloads/documentation/waspmote_datasheet.pdf (on accessed 18 June 2013).
[23]
LEGO Group. LEGO Mindstorms NXT User Guide. Available online: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/support/buildinginstructions/8547/8547%20User%20Guide%20English.aspx (on accessed 18 June 2013).
[24]
HiTechnic IR RC Kart Building Instructions. Available online: http://www.hitechnic.com/file.php?f=503-HTRCKart.pdf (on accessed 18 June 2013).
[25]
Robot Electronics Using the I2C_Bus. Available online: http://www.robot-electronics.co.uk/acatalog/I2C_Tutorial.html (on accessed 4 April 2013).
[26]
Esquembre, F. Easy Java Simulations: A software tool to create scientific simulations in Java. Comput. Phys. Commun. 2004, 156, 199–204, doi:10.1016/S0010-4655(03)00440-5.
[27]
Raap, XBee-API A Java API for Digi XBee/XBee-Pro OEM RF Modules. Available online: http://code.google.com/p/xbee-api/ (on accessed 6 April 2013).
Viguria, A.; Howard, M. An Integrated approach for achieving multirobot task formations. IEEE ASME Trans. Mechatron. 2009, 14, 176–186, doi:10.1109/TMECH.2009.2014056.
[30]
Digi International Inc. Product Manual v1.xEx—802.15.4 Protocol. Available online: http://ftp1.digi.com/support/documentation/90000982_K.pdf (on accessed 7 April 2013).
[31]
Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas S.L. Waspmote Technical Guide. Available online: http://www.libelium.com/documentation/waspmote/waspmote-technical_guide_eng.pdf (on accessed 7 April 2013).
[32]
Guascon, D. Long Range Multiprotocol Wireless Sensor Networks. Proceedings of Best Demo Award at the Sensing Technology 2010, Birmingham, UK; 2010.
[33]
National Instruments. Lab VIEW Toolkits for LEGO Mindstorms NXT Programming Guide. Available online: http://download.ni.com/evaluation/mindstorms/LabVIEW_for_NXT_Advanced_Programming_Guide.pdf (on accessed 18 June 2013).
[34]
Godsil, G.R. Algebraic Graph Theory; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2001.
[35]
Ren, W.; Atkins, E. Distributed multi-vehicle coordinated control via local information exchange. Int. J. Robust Nonlinear Control 2007, 17, 1002–1033, doi:10.1002/rnc.1147.
[36]
Ren, W.; Moore, K.; Chen, Y. High-Order Consensus Algorithms in Cooperative Vehicle Systems. Proceedings of International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA, 23– 25 April 2006; pp. 457–462.
[37]
Seo, J.H.; Shim, H.; Back, J. Consensus of high-order linear systems using dynamic output feedback compensator: Low gain approach. Automatica 2009, 45, 2659–2664, doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2009.07.022.
[38]
Lawton, J.R.T.; Beard, R.W.; Young, B.J. A decentralized approach to formation maneuvers. IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom. 2003, 19, 933–941, doi:10.1109/TRA.2003.819598.
[39]
Lemmon, M. Event-Triggered Feedback in Control Estimation Optimization. In Networked Control Systems; Springer Verlag: Heidelberg, Germany, 2010.
[40]
Seyboth, G.; Dimarogonas, D.; Johansson, K. Control of Multi-Agent Systems via Event-Based Communication. Proceedings of 18th International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) World Congress, Milano, Italy, 28 August– 2 September 2011; pp. 10086–10091.
[41]
Demir, O.; Lunze, J. Cooperative Control of Multi-Agent Systems with Event-Based Communication. Proceedings of American Control Conference, Montreal, Canada, 27–29 June 2012; pp. 4504–4509.
[42]
Guinaldo, M.; Dimarogonas, D.; Johansson, K.; Sanchez, J.; Dormido, S. Distributed Event-Based Control for Interconnected Linear Systems. Proceedings of 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Orlando, FL, USA, 12– 15 December 2011; pp. 2553–2558.
[43]
Guinaldo, M.; Farias, G.; Fabregas, E.; Sánchez, J.; Dormido-Canto, S.; Dormido, S. An interactive simulator for networked mobile robots. IEEE Netw. Mag. 2012, 26, 14–20, doi:10.1109/MNET.2012.6201211.
[44]
Mazo, M.; Anta, A.; Tabuada, P. An ISS self-triggered implementation for linear controllers. Automatica 2010, 46, 1310–1314, doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2010.05.009.
