The Cooperation of Heterogeneous Mobile Robots in Manufacturing Environments using a Robotic Middleware Platform

Abstract

The study of cooperation in heterogeneous robot teams has evolved due to the engineering and economic benefits attribute as well as the existence of diversities in homogeneous robot teams. The challenge of cooperation in these systems is a result of the task taxonomies and fundamental abilities of each robot in the team; there is therefore a need for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that processes these heterogeneities to facilitate robot cooperation. The research in this paper focuses on the cooperative teamwork behavior among heterogeneous mobile robots via the use of a robotic middleware platform. The contribution of this research is seen in the application of cooperative robotics in manufacturing processes where bottlenecks are relieved, resulting in the improvement of production efficiencies.