Cooperative Behavior of Multiple Mobile Robots by Applying Traffic Rules.
Shin Kato, Sakae Nishiyama, Junichi Takeno · Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan · 1994
This paper proposes a system to control mobile robots by applying traffic rules.The authors have constructed traffic rules to achieve safe and smooth movement of robots by collectively considering information on the work environments of mobile objects such as mobile robots and people.These traffic rules enable mobile robots to judge and control their own movements.Common rules are required to keep order in a society or group.These rules make it possible to maintain order in individuals having self-controlled will.Therefore, we propose the application of common rules for movements (traffic rules) to realize cooperative behavior of multiple mobile robots.We then consider the effects of applying traffic rules, especially the decrease in probability of collision, communication and detection range of the sensors.This paper first outlines a system of applying traffic rules for mobile robots, and explains how to construct and design the system by giving examples.The effects of the system, and how to apply the traffic rules to actual systems are then discussed.Finally, the paper examines the effectiveness of the system and describes experiments on mobile robots mounted with ultrasonic sensors.