WiSER-X: Wireless Signals-based Efficient Decentralized Multi-Robot Exploration without Explicit Information Exchange

2024-12-27

AI Summary

This work addresses multi-robot collaborative exploration in communication-constrained, unknown environments. We propose a fully decentralized, distributed solution that relies solely on relative pose estimates—derived from wireless signal round-trip time (RTT) measurements via WiFi or UWB—without requiring map sharing or explicit inter-robot communication. The method integrates distributed frontier point selection, local potential-field-driven exploration, and an event-triggered asynchronous termination mechanism, inherently supporting robot heterogeneity and robustness against complete individual robot failure. Experiments demonstrate a 58% reduction in coverage overlap compared to a zero-information-sharing baseline, while increasing overlap by only 23% relative to an ideal full-information-sharing upper bound—all while guaranteeing 100% area coverage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach achieving complete coverage with no shared map, no explicit communication, asynchronous termination, and fault tolerance.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multi-Robot Systems
• Multiagent Systems: Distributed Problem Solving
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Algorithms and analysis for incomplete, noisy, or partially observed Web-related graphs
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

We introduce a Wireless Signal based Efficient multi-Robot eXploration (WiSER-X) algorithm applicable to a decentralized team of robots exploring an unknown environment with communication bandwidth constraints. WiSER-X relies only on local inter-robot relative position estimates, that can be obtained by exchanging signal pings from onboard sensors such as WiFi, Ultra-Wide Band, amongst others, to inform the exploration decisions of individual robots to minimize redundant coverage overlaps. Furthermore, WiSER-X also enables asynchronous termination without requiring a shared map between the robots. It also adapts to heterogeneous robot behaviors and even complete failures in unknown environment while ensuring complete coverage. Simulations show that WiSER-X leads to 58% lower overlap than a zero-information-sharing baseline algorithm-1 and only 23% more overlap than a full-information-sharing algorithm baseline algorithm-2.

Problem

• Multi-robot Exploration
• Unknown Environments
• Communication-free Navigation

Innovation

• WiSER-X Algorithm
• Multi-Robot Exploration
• Wireless Signal Utilization