The proposed research focuses on algorithms to solve illumination problems, which are a class of geometric optimization problems that focus on where to place, or how to move, groups of guards in such a way as to illuminate environments or targets of interest. The objective is to solve this class of geometric optimization problems, through visually-guided agents, i.e., robotic agents with line-of-sight sensors and line-of-sight communication. The technical approach is based on a novel set of "incremental partition and deployment" algorithms that effectively solve the classic art gallery problem for robotic guards with visibility sensors. Our solutions rely on novel geometric structures that reflect the environment topology, on navigation algorithms to explore these structures, and on distributed algorithms to manage the information gathered via local sensing and communication. The broad research objective is to design distributed algorithms for various illumination and motion coordination problems. Useful scenarios arise by considering a hierarchy of environments, a variety of illumination models, and different tasks.
The proposed research will impact the emerging technologies of robotic and sensor networks. The focus is on situations where groups of robots with cameras and other controllable sensors will provide pervasive coverage and sensing in urban environments. Example applications could include civil rescue operations and adaptive aerial surveillance. This technology holds the promise to affect society at large by facilitating a number of critical tasks in national security, industrial automation, and novel commercial applications. This research will achieve broad dissemination through regular publications as well as through the development of lecture notes and a course on cooperative mobile robotics. The PI will develop software for distributed illumination problems, geometric optimization and algorithm visualization. The PI will supervise teams of undergraduate students performing senior design projects on robotics and controls related to the broad themes of this proposal, including sensor networks, mobile robot control, and visual sensing. The PI plans to advertise opportunities to work on proposal-related projects as widely as possible to attract under-represented and minority students.
