Robohub.org
 

Robot coordination for fire response


by
12 October 2010



share this:

Robots can work together to cooperatively execute tasks much faster than a single robot. In the scenario proposed by Jones et al. fire trucks are sent out to extinguish fires caused by a large-scale disaster. Because of the disaster, roads are blocked by debris that can only be cleared by bulldozer robots. Coordination in this scenario amounts to figuring out which routes the fire trucks should take to extinguish which fires and how bulldozers should be used to clear the way. Good coordination leads to a maximum number of fires being extinguished as fast as possible.

Allocating the tasks to the different agents (fire trucks and bulldozers) over time is challenging because of the explosion in possible combinations of agents, tasks and routes. To address this challenge, Jones et al. propose two approaches. In the first, agents bid on groups of tasks to be accomplished over time and auctions are then held to distribute the tasks. The second approach searches over all possible solutions by using a genetic algorithm.

Experiments in simulation show that the genetic algorithm, if given enough time, results in better system performance than auction-based systems that tend to result in local minima. Higher performance however comes at the price of orders of magnitude increase in processing. Because both approaches are able to achieve good solutions, the tradeoff between performance and execution time will need to be considered on a case by case basis.

Two examples of auction-based approaches are shown below. On the left side, only a single fire is assigned per fire truck at a time, while the right side approach allows several fires to be assigned at a time. Result show that assigning a set of tasks to accomplish over a period of time leads to better performance (green bar) than assigning a single task at a time (time-extended coordination).




Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 118 – Soft robotics and electronic skin, with Miranda Lowther

  25 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Miranda Lowther from the University of Bristol about soft, sensitive electronic skin for prosthetic limbs.

Robot Talk Episode 117 – Robots in orbit, with Jeremy Hadall

  11 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Jeremy Hadall from the Satellite Applications Catapult about robotic systems for in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing.

Robot Talk Episode 116 – Evolved behaviour for robot teams, with Tanja Kaiser

  04 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Tanja Katharina Kaiser from the University of Technology Nuremberg about how applying evolutionary principles can help robot teams make better decisions.

Robot Talk Episode 115 – Robot dogs working in industry, with Benjamin Mottis

  28 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Benjamin Mottis from ANYbotics about deploying their four-legged ANYmal robot in a variety of industries.

Robot Talk Episode 114 – Reducing waste with robotics, with Josie Gotz

  21 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Josie Gotz from the Manufacturing Technology Centre about robotics for material recovery, reuse and recycling.

Robot Talk Episode 113 – Soft robotic hands, with Kaspar Althoefer

  14 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Kaspar Althoefer from Queen Mary University of London about soft robotic manipulators for healthcare and manufacturing.

Robot Talk Episode 112 – Getting creative with robotics, with Vali Lalioti

  07 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Vali Lalioti from the University of the Arts London about how art, culture and robotics interact.

Robot Talk Episode 111 – Robots for climate action, with Patrick Meier

  28 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Patrick Meier from the Climate Robotics Network about how robots can help scale action on climate change.





Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2024 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2021 - ROBOTS Association