Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems: The 13th International Symposium

Distributed robotics is an interdisciplinary and rapidly growing area, combining research in computer science, communication and control systems, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Distributed robotic systems can autonomously solve complex problems while operating in highly unstructured real-world environments. They are expected to play a major role in addressing future societal needs, for example, by improving environmental impact assessment, food supply, transportation, manufacturing, security, and emergency and rescue services. The goal of the International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) is to provide a forum for scientific advances in the theory and practice of distributed autonomous robotic systems.

This volume of proceedings include 47 original contributions presented at the 13th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2016), which was held at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, from November 7th to 9th, 2016. The selected papers in this volume are authored by leading researchers from around the world, thereby providing a broad coverage and perspective of the state-of-the-art technologies, algorithms, system architectures, and applications in distributed robotic systems. The book is organized into seven parts, representative of critical long-term and emerging research thrusts in the multi-robot community: Distributed Coverage and Exploration; Multi-Robot Control; Multi-Robot Estimation; Multi-Robot Planning; Modular Robots and Smart Materials; Swarm Robotics; and Multi-Robot Systems in Applications.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. A Probabilistic Topological Approach to Feature Identification Using a Stochastic Robotic Swarm
Chapter 2. Communication-Restricted Exploration for Search Teams
Chapter 3. From Ants to Birds: A Novel Bio-Inspired Approach to Online Area Coverage
Chapter 4. Information Based Exploration with Panoramas and Angle Occupancy Grids
Chapter 5. Multirobot Persistent Patrolling in Communication-Restricted Environments
Chapter 6. A Comparative Study of Collision Avoidance Algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Performance and Robustness to Noise
Chapter 7. A Decentralized Control Strategy for Resilient Connectivity Maintenance in Multi-robot Systems Subject to Failures
Chapter 8. Chase Your Farthest Neighbour
Chapter 9. OuijaBots: Omnidirectional Robots for Cooperative Object Transport with Rotation Control Using No Communication
Chapter 10. Persistent Multi-robot Formations with Redundancy
Chapter 11. Triangular Networks for Resilient Formations
Chapter 12. Construction of Optimal Control Graphs in Multi-robot Systems
Chapter 13. Decision-Making Accuracy for Sensor Networks with Inhomogeneous Poisson Observations
Chapter 14. Distributed Laplacian Eigenvalue and Eigenvector Estimation in Multi-robot Systems
Chapter 15. Distributed Object Characterization with Local Sensing by a Multi-robot System
Chapter 16. Optical Wireless Communications for Heterogeneous DARS
Chapter 17. Bundling Policies for Sequential Stochastic Tasks in Multi-robot Systems
Chapter 18. Decomposition of Finite LTL Specifications for Efficient Multi-agent Planning
Chapter 19. Informative Path Planning and Mapping with Multiple UAVs in Wind Fields
Chapter 20. Multi-robot Informative and Adaptive Planning for Persistent Environmental Monitoring
Chapter 21. The Effectiveness Index Intrinsic Reward for Coordinating Service Robots
Chapter 22. United We Move: Decentralized Segregated Robotic Swarm Navigation
Chapter 23. A Rule Synthesis Algorithm for Programmable Stochastic Self-assembly of Robotic Modules
Chapter 24. Distributed Adaptive Locomotion Learning in ModRED Modular Self-reconfigurable Robot
Chapter 25. Distributed Camouflage for Swarm Robotics and Smart Materials
Chapter 26. Evo-Bots: A Simple, Stochastic Approach to Self-assembling Artificial Organisms
Chapter 27. Geometrical Study of a Quasi-spherical Module for Building Programmable Matter
Chapter 28. HyMod: A 3-DOF Hybrid Mobile and Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot and its Extensions
Chapter 29. Network Characterization of Lattice-Based Modular Robots with Neighbor-to-Neighbor Communications
Chapter 30. Decentralized Progressive Shape Formation with Robot Swarms
Chapter 31. Discovery and Exploration of Novel Swarm Behaviors Given Limited Robot Capabilities
Chapter 32. Effects of Spatiality on Value-Sensitive Decisions Made by Robot Swarms
Chapter 33. Emergence and Inhibition of Synchronization in Robot Swarms
Chapter 34. Evolving Behaviour Trees for Swarm Robotics
Chapter 35. Evolving Group Transport Strategies for e-Puck Robots: Moving Objects Towards a Target Area
Chapter 36. From Formalised State Machines to Implementations of Robotic Controllers
Chapter 37. Human Responses to Stimuli Produced by Robot Swarms – the Effect of the Reality-Gap on Psychological State
Chapter 38. Localization of Inexpensive Robots with Low-Bandwidth Sensors
Chapter 39. Modelling Mood in Co-operative Emotional Agents
Chapter 40. Programmable Self-disassembly for Shape Formation in Large-Scale Robot Collectives
Chapter 41. Towards Differentially Private Aggregation of Heterogeneous Robots
Chapter 42. Construction Planning for a Modularized Rail Structure: Type Selection of Rail Structure Modules and Dispatch Planning of Constructor Robots
Chapter 43. Distributed Convolutional Neural Networks for Human Activity Recognition in Wearable Robotics
Chapter 44. Formation Control of a Drifting Group of Marine Robotic Vehicles
Chapter 45. Multi-swarm Infrastructure for Swarm Versus Swarm Experimentation
Chapter 46. Robust Coordinated Aerial Deployments for Theatrical Applications Given Online User Interaction via Behavior Composition
Chapter 47. Vertex: A New Distributed Underwater Robotic Platform for Environmental Monitoring