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A Petri net based approach for multi-robot path planning

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Abstract

This paper presents a procedure for creating a probabilistic finite-state model for mobile robots and for finding a sequence of controllers ensuring the highest probability for reaching some desired regions. The approach starts by using results for controlling affine systems in simpliceal partitions, and then it creates a finite-state representation with history-based probabilities on transitions. This representation is embedded into a Petri Net model with probabilistic costs on transitions, and a highest probability path to reach a set of target regions is found. An online supervising procedure updates the paths whenever a robot deviates from the intended trajectory. The proposed probabilistic framework may prove suitable for controlling mobile robots based on more complex specifications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions. This work has been partially supported at the Technical University of Iasi by the CNCS-UEFISCDI grant PN-II-RU PD 333/2010 and at University of Zaragoza by the CICYT—FEDER grant DPI2010-20413.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Automatic Control and Applied Informatics, Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” of Iasi, Iasi, Romania

    Marius Kloetzer

  2. Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Cristian Mahulea

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  1. Marius Kloetzer
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  2. Cristian Mahulea
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Correspondence to Cristian Mahulea.

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Kloetzer, M., Mahulea, C. A Petri net based approach for multi-robot path planning. Discrete Event Dyn Syst 24, 417–445 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10626-013-0162-6

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