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Distributed Coverage Control for Robotic Systems Employing On-Board Sensors

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European Robotics Forum 2024 (ERF 2024)

Abstract

In this study, we introduce a coverage control strategy for coordinating a fleet of autonomous robots. Many existing approaches in the literature rely on extensive computations and environment partitioning, which necessitate complete knowledge of the environment and the robots’ positions for achieving optimal coverage. In contrast, our paper presents a control methodology based on the principles outlined in [1], focusing on a local partitioning of the environment corresponding to each robot’s sensing area. This methodology exclusively leverages locally acquired information, ensuring optimal coverage without the need for inter-robot communication. We demonstrate how this approach enables a group of robots to achieve optimal coverage while relying solely on locally sensed data, eliminating the necessity for global information sharing. We validate this methodology through simulations and real-world experiments conducted with a group of mobile robots equipped with LiDAR sensors.

This work was supported by the Socially-acceptable Extended Reality Models and Systems (SERMAS) Project of the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Program (GA n. 101070351).

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Correspondence to Federico Pratissoli .

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Pratissoli, F., Buono, C., Sabattini, L. (2024). Distributed Coverage Control for Robotic Systems Employing On-Board Sensors. In: Secchi, C., Marconi, L. (eds) European Robotics Forum 2024. ERF 2024. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 32. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76424-0_24

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