INTELLIGENT STRATEGY PLANNING AND CONTROL OF A GROUP OF MOBILE ROBOTS UNDER CONDITIONS OF INCOMPLETE INFORMATION

Abstract

Different problems of strategy planning and control of a mobile robot group under complex dynamic
conditions with incomplete information about the external environment are considered. Approaches
to solving problems of effective work scheduling under conditions of inconstant active group
composition, searching for the source of a nonstationary concentration field, supervisory control of
discrete-event systems are presented. An original mathematical model formulated in terms of work-shift
scheduling problems and a problem-oriented modification of evolutionary algorithms with a specialized
set of heuristics for its efficient solution are developed for the problem of scheduling top-level group
work. Searching and monitoring the source of the nonstationary concentration field is carried out using
a decentralized multi-agent control strategy that combines elements of bionic and gradient approaches,
as well as a method for generating artificial potential fields. The considered control strategy has low
computational complexity, high variability with respect to the types of fields surveyed, and is easily scalable
to control any available number of mobile robots. The latter is of special importance, in particular
when considering the problem of parallel and independent monitoring of multiple sources. It is proposed
to use the means of logical inference, namely automatic theorem proving in the calculus of positively
constructed formulas, to solve various problems of the supervised control theory of discrete-event
systems used at different levels of the robotic complex hierarchical control system. Features of the calculus
allows solving complex problems of dynamic systems control, as well as processing and controlling
events based on environmental data in real time in the process of logical inference efficiently. The
approach based on positively constructed formulas allows studying the properties of automata-based
discrete-event systems, as well as to synthesize and model finite automata for the construction and realization
of monolithic and modular supervisors. A general scheme combining the considered approaches
for controlling a group of mobile robots at different levels and time scales within a single hierarchical
control system is proposed.