Environment model adaptation for mobile robot exploration

A Generalized Information-Theoretic Framework for the Emergence of Hierarchical Abstractions in Resource-Limited Systems

In this paper, a generalized information-theoretic framework for the emergence of multi-resolution hierarchical tree abstractions is developed. By leveraging ideas from information-theoretic signal encoding with side information, this paper develops a tree search problem which considers the generation of multi-resolution tree abstractions when there are multiple sources of relevant and irrelevant, or possibly confidential, information. We rigorously formulate an information-theoretic driven tree abstraction problem and discuss its connections with information-theoretic privacy and resource-limited systems. The problem structure is investigated and a novel algorithm, called G-tree search, is proposed. The proposed algorithm is analyzed and a number of theoretical results are established, including the optimally of the G-tree search algorithm. To demonstrate the utility of the proposed framework, we apply our method to a real-world example and provide a discussion of the results from the viewpoint of designing hierarchical abstractions for autonomous systems.

Consensus Algorithms Based Multi-Robot Formation Control under Noise and Time Delay Conditions

In recent years, the formation control of multi-mobile robots has been widely investigated by researchers. With increasing numbers of robots in the formation, distributed formation control has become the development trend of multi-mobile robot formation control, and the consensus problem is the most basic problem in the distributed multi-mobile robot control algorithm. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the consensus of multi-mobile robot systems. There are already mature and sophisticated strategies solving the consensus problem in ideal environments. However, in practical applications, uncertain factors like communication noise, communication delay and measurement errors will still lead to many problems in multi-robot formation control. In this paper, the consensus problem of second-order multi-robot systems with multiple time delays and noises is analyzed. The characteristic equation of the system is transformed into a quadratic polynomial of pure imaginary eigenvalues using the frequency domain analysis method, and then the critical stability state of the maximum time delay under noisy conditions is obtained. When all robot delays are less than the maximum time delay, the system can be stabilized and achieve consensus. Compared with the traditional Lyapunov method, this algorithm has lower conservativeness, and it is easier to extend the results to higher-order multi-robot systems. Finally, the results are verified by numerical simulation using MATLAB/Simulink. At the same time, a multi-mobile robot platform is built, and the proposed algorithm is applied to an actual multi-robot system. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is finally able to achieve the consensus of the second-order multi-robot system under delay and noise interference.