Searching Dynamic Agents with a Team of Mobile Robots
Miguel Juliá, Arturo Gil and Oscar Reinoso
Sensors  (2012)
Ed. MDPI  ISSN:1424-8220  DOI:10.3390/s120708815  - Vol. 12, Issue 7, pp. 8815-8831

Abstract:

This paper presents a new algorithm that allows a team of robots to cooperatively search for a set of moving targets. An estimation of the areas of the environment that are more likely to hold a target agent is obtained using a grid-based Bayesian filter. The robot sensor readings and the maximum speed of the moving targets are used in order to update the grid. This representation is used in a search algorithm that commands the robots to those areas that are more likely to present target agents. This algorithm splits the environment in a tree of connected regions using dynamic programming. This tree is used in order to decide the destination for each robot in a coordinated manner. The algorithm has been successfully tested in known and unknown environments showing the validity of the approach.