Optimal Multi-Robot Coverage Path Planning for Agricultural Fields using Motion Dynamics

Abstract

Coverage path planning (CPP) is the task of computing an optimal path within a region to completely scan or survey the area of interest by using robotic sensor footprints. In this work, we propose a novel approach to find the multi-robot optimal coverage path of an agricultural field using motion dynamics while minimizing the mission time. Our approach consists of three steps: (i) divide the agricultural field into convex polygonal areas to optimally distribute them among the robots, (ii) generate an optimal coverage path to ensure minimum coverage time for each of the polygonal areas, and (iii) generate the trajectory for each coverage path using Dubins motion dynamics. Several experiments and simulations were performed to check the validity and feasibility of our approach, and the results and limitations are discussed.