A Research Of Energy Autonomy In Swarm Robots

With the development of robot technology, the tasks completed by swarm of robot are increasing complex. A single robot only carries a limited of battery in the swarm. Thus posts a new challenge to the long-time working ability of the robots. Autonomous mobile robot has become one of the researching hotspot in the field of robotic. The key point to solve the limited time of indoor mobile robots lies in the research of autonomous recharging technology, which associated with navigating to the charging station for the mobile robots as its crucial point. Efficient navigation should be adopted especially when the hardware of the mobile robots is in poor condition. This paper has studied the technology of charging system for the autonomous mobile robots. Besides, it builds a system that can be self-sufficient, that is, the system has the ability to sustain itself for a longer time without human intervention.In this paper, a navigation algorithm based on monitoring is proposed to lead the mobile robot to the charging station. The monitor platform uses neighbor point tracking algorithm to get the motion status of the mobile robot, which is calculated though a 2D geometric analysis to get the deflection angle the robot should be moved in next step. Furthermore, the hardware of the robot is improved to detect its current energy level. So, when it is fully replenished, the robot can detach with the station autonomously. The whole system can run by itself without human maintenance. Thus, the swarm of robots can sustain work for a longer time.The paper's main achievements include:1. Monitoring platform based navigation algorithm: the camera is used to monitor the robots, and then the mature video tracking algorithm is adopted to extract the position and direction of movement. The next moving angle is analyzed and disseminated to the robots.2. Building a simulation scenario for swarm robots: Using Player/Stage platform to simulate the navigation and charging process for swarm robots to verify the proposed algorithm on both viable and effective.3. Automatic contact charging: As the mobile robot is navigated into the charging station, its charging line is contact with the electronic board of the station and can replenish itself autonomous.The study in this paper provides a charging system for the autonomous mobile robots. Experimental is conducted on the real mobile Micro-mouse and the tracking is showed on the monitor platform to verify the viability of the algorithm and the reliability of the proposed system.