Distributed Robotic Target Acquisition using

Bluetooth Communication

J.T. McClain, B.J. Wimpey, D.H. Barnhard, and W.D. PotterArtificial Intelligence CenterThe University of Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Introduction Goals

Solve a team-based “search and destroy” task

Develop a robust chassis for multi-robot teams

Create a method for distributed message passing within a robotic network

Odin and Hodur Preliminary project

Primary goal was to develop the communication system

Honeybee Task Localization Architecture prototyping

Current Phase

Hardware The Collective

multi-robot system A team of modified

Motorworks radio-controlled tanks

Sensory facilities include four sonar rangers, magnetic compass, and four light intensity sensors

Actuators include two independently driven treads and a firing mechanism

Hardware Robot Controller Network

The primary controller on each robot is a Bluetooth enabled Compaq iPAQ 3970 (Pocket PC 2002)

Primitive sensor and actuator functions are handled by a network of two microcontrollers, an Acroname Brainstem GP 1.0 and a Brainstem Moto 1.0

HardwareB

rain

stem

Bra

inst

em

GP (Router)

Moto

iPAQ/Brainstem Control Network

Hardware Overview

Sensor Overview

Hardware The Bluetooth Wireless Protocol

A proprietary wireless protocol that is intended to create a short-range radio link between electronic devices

Primarily used as a wireless desktop solution due to its relatively short range of approximately 30 feet

Characterized by robustness, low complexity, low power, high data transmission speed, security, and low cost

Communications Previous Version

In the Odin and Hodur model, a loss of one robot would result in mission failure

Current Version Use of Routing Information Protocol

(RIP) prevents this problem Sends a “heartbeat” at regular intervals Keeps all robots informed of the status

of the others

Behavior Distributed Search

As the process begins, all robots are searching for the target

Discovery Once the target has been found,

localization begins After localization, the coordinates of

the target are passed to the other robots

Behavior Formation

Once the target is found, the robot that first acquired the target is considered a leader

It is the leader’s responsibility to determine the placement of the other tanks

Based upon the number of robots that are still “alive” in the status table

Dependent on the location in the environment

Conclusion and Future Directions

Preliminary results indicate that cooperating tanks are a viable option for a distributed search

Future Work Dynamically tracking moving targets Improved strategic planning Better localization scheme