WP4-10

Cooperative Planner

ID	WP4-10
Contributor	ALMENDE
Levels	Platform, Function
Require
Provide	Navigation goals, at Global-Planner level, shared among drones
Input	ROS TF/map data, shared among multiple robots
Output	ROS navigation goals, also shared among mutliple robots
C4D building block
TRL	4
Parent Building block	[]
Contact	ludo at almende.org

Description

This component provides support for cooperation between drones and rovers, on a (global) planning level. By sharing a drone's plans, in a standardized manner, more optimal group behavior can be achieved, through a group planner component. By designing this group planner through multi-agent techniques, this planner can be distributed over multiple robots.

Improvements

In the research fields of game-theory, multi-agent systems, and service orchestration, several strategies for cooperation have been developed. Most of these strategies have not yet been applied within a robotic environment, nor has there been much focus on cooperating robots. An exception to this is the field of Robotic Soccer and similar competitions and challenges, which apply voting-based planning through shared playbooks and role-assignment. This component allows trying out such algorithms and strategies for any ROS-based system, by extending the navigation stack with a cooperative planner, on top of the current standard local and global planner.