9303148 Kleinrock This award provides support for the investigation of collective behavior of a collection of autonomous, communicating mobile robots (mobots). Ths study will be accomplished through the establishment of a laboratory to study distributed robotics involving researchers form computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. The award also provides support for the acquisition of mobots and for the support of technical staff to maintain the laboratory. The main research topic pursued is distributed algorithms for collective behavior. The specific topics to be pursued are communication improvements and protocols for wireless communication between improvements and protocols for wireless communication between robots, distributed motion planning studies for the robots, and the application of maximum utility theory to the implementation of collective behavior.
