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Robotics Research pp 387–402Cite as

Small and Adrift with Self-Control: Using the Environment to Improve Autonomy

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Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics ((SPAR,volume 3))

Abstract

We present information theoretic search strategies for single and multi-robot teams to localize the source of a chemical spill in turbulent flows. In this work, robots rely on sporadic and intermittent sensor readings to synthesize information maximizing exploration strategies. Using the spatial distribution of the sensor readings, robots construct a belief distribution for the source location. Motion strategies are designed to maximize the change in entropy of this belief distribution. In addition, we show how a geophysical description of the environmental dynamics can improve existing motion control strategies. This is especially true when process and vehicle dynamics are intricately coupled with the environmental dynamics. We conclude with a summary of current efforts in robotic tracking of coherent structures in geophysical flows. Since coherent structures enables the prediction and estimation of the environmental dynamics, we discuss how this geophysical perspective can result in improved control strategies for autonomous systems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For full animation visit http://earth.nullschool.net/ and http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003827/.

  2. 2.

    Noise can arise from uncertainty in model parameters and/or measurement noise.

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Acknowledgements

MAH, HH, and DK are supported by ONR Award Nos. N000141211019 and N000141310731 and National Science Foundation (NSF) grant IIS-1253917. EF and PAY are supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grant DMS-1418956. IBS is supported by ONR contract No. N0001412WX2003 and NRL 6.1 program contract No. N0001412WX30002. We would like to thank Alex Fabregat Tomas (CUNY) and Andrew Poje (CUNY) in providing the plume data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scalable Autonomous Systems Lab, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    M. Ani Hsieh, Hadi Hajieghrary & Dhanushka Kularatne

  2. Autonomous Robotics & Perception Group, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Christoffer R. Heckman

  3. Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA

    Eric Forgoston

  4. Nonlinear Systems Dynamics Section, Plasma Physics Division, Code 6792, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, 20375, USA

    Ira B. Schwartz

  5. Albert Nerken School of Engineering, The Cooper Union, Newyork city, NY, 10003, USA

    Philip A. Yecko

Authors
  1. M. Ani Hsieh
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  2. Hadi Hajieghrary
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  3. Dhanushka Kularatne
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  4. Christoffer R. Heckman
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  5. Eric Forgoston
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  6. Ira B. Schwartz
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  7. Philip A. Yecko
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Ani Hsieh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy , Pisa, Italy

    Antonio Bicchi

  2. Inst. für Informatik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Inst. für Informatik, Freiburg, Germany

    Wolfram Burgard

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Ani Hsieh, M. et al. (2018). Small and Adrift with Self-Control: Using the Environment to Improve Autonomy. In: Bicchi, A., Burgard, W. (eds) Robotics Research. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60916-4_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60916-4_22

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60916-4

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