Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Co4Robots (Achieving Complex Collaborative Missions via Decentralized Control and Coordination of Interacting Robots)
Reporting period: 2018-07-01 to 2020-06-30
Based on the above, the goal of Co4Robots is to build: (i) a systematic real-time decentralized methodology to accomplish complex mission specifications given to a team of potentially heterogeneous robots; (ii) a set of control schemes appropriate for the mobility and manipulation capabilities of the considered robotic platforms, their types and dynamics, the unexpected and sudden changes in the environment, and the presence of humans; (iii) a set of perceptual capabilities that enable robots to localize themselves and estimate the state of their highly dynamic environment, in the presence of strong interactions and in a collaborative manner; and (iv) their corresponding systematic integration at both the conceptual and the software implementation levels.
In the second period (Months 19-42), we proposed efficient approaches to deal with the issues in cooperation and coordination. Regarding manipulation and mobility, we tackled the problem of cooperative load transportation/manipulation among heterogeneous agents to achieve the physical interaction with users, operators or other system entities, studied the case of partially known object dynamics and obstacle-cluttered environments, and proposed control modules to ensure effective operation via the tasks to be executed. Regarding decentralized real-time planning, we proposed decentralized online abstraction scheme to capture agents’ motion capabilities, combined static and dynamic quantization to refine the abstraction dynamically, and applied the refinement technique to deal with motion planning under non-holonomic and geometric constraints. Regarding decentralized real-time perception, we developed robot perception algorithms to solve the perception problems in the collaboration of multiple agents for certain goals. Regarding software platform and applications, we developed a platform to integrate all the software and to evaluate all the key objectives, and instantiated and customized the outcomes to specific demonstrators.
Overall, the goal of Co4Robots has been achieved. We finished 7 work packages with 28 tasks, and distributed 3 demonstrations and 25 deliverables. Commercial relevance and exploitation potential have been considered constantly by Bosch and its subsidiary Bosch Rexroth. The Co4Robots activities prepared AI-based solutions for self-organization and learning of cooperative systems in the Factory of the Future, addressed the increasing complexity of intralogistics systems and the resulting need for systematic development procedures and scaling algorithmic solutions. The results of Co4Robots can be treated as “door-openers” for future intralogistics systems, which is shown in the filed patent applications.