A study of mechanisms for improving robotic group performance

Many collaborative multi-robot application domains have limited areas of operation that cause spatial conflicts between robotic teammates. These spatial conflicts can cause the team's productivity to drop with the addition of robots. This phenomenon is impacted by the coordination methods used by the team-members, as different coordination methods yield radically different productivity results. However, selecting the best coordination method to be used by teammates is a formidable task. This paper presents techniques for creating adaptive coordination methods to address this challenge. We first present a combined coordination cost measure, CCC, to quantify the cost of group interactions. Our measure is useful for facilitating comparison between coordination methods, even when multiple cost factors are considered. We consistently find that as CCC values grow, group productivity falls. Using the CCC, we create adaptive coordination techniques that are able to dynamically adjust the...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: AI
• Authors: Avi Rosenfeld, Gal A. Kaminka, Sarit Kraus, Onn Shehory
• Keywords: Adaptive Coordination, Adaptive Coordination Methods, AI 2008, Artificial Intelligence, Coordination Methods