A homogeneous population of robots described as an Army-ant swarm is to be realized for material transportation. Robots envisioned in the Army-ant scenario are relatively small, independent autonomous mobile robots that can cooperatively carry palletized loads. In this thesis, the agents are treated as a self-organizing system of moving points. This characteristic makes the Army-ant swarm a modular, adaptive, and dynamic system.
Several algorithms for the spatial self-organization of the robots are given. Self-organizing agents can arrange themselves geometrically in two- and three-dimensional space using only local information about teammates. The method is a distributed one: each agent uses only the information obtained by its own sensors. Algorithms are based on feasible assumptions. It is also shown possible to divide such a population into different groups around goals by communicating minimal data. Data transfer has a broadcast characteristic.
Behavioral self-organization in the Army-ant scenario is also investigated. Activation and inhibition relations between robots determine the behavior (position in a behavioral space) of the agents, while in spatial self-organization force fields are in effect. Several problems which may be encountered and the solution to some of these problems are outlined. Methods for communication and cooperative decision systems — such as coupled van der Pol oscillators — in finding and carrying the pallets are proposed. Sensors and communication systems that may be used in the Army-ant scenario are also briefly discussed. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/42542 |
| Date | 09 May 2009 |
| Creators | Unsal, Cem |
| Contributors | Electrical Engineering |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | xi, 128 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 28922317, LD5655.V855_1993.U572.pdf |
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