Cooperation by observation: the framework and basic task patterns

Abstract

A novel framework for multiple robot cooperation called "cooperation by observation" is presented. It introduces many interesting issues such as a viewpoint constraint and role interchange, as well as novel concepts like "attentional structure". The framework has the potential to realize a high level of task coordination by decentralized autonomous robots allowing minimum explicit communication. Its source of power lies in an advanced capability given to each robot for recognizing other agent's actions by (primarily visual) observation. This provides rich information about the current task situation around each robot which facilitates highly-structured task coordination. The basic visuo-motor routines are described. Concrete examples and experiments using real mobile robots are also presented.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>