Optimal multi-robot path planning with temporal logic constraints

In this paper we present a method for automatically planning optimal paths for a group of robots that satisfy a common high level mission specification. Each robot's motion in the environment is modeled as a weighted transition system. The mission is given as a Linear Temporal Logic formula. In...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ulusoy, Alphan, Smith, Stephen L., Ding, Xu Chu, Belta, Calin, Rus, Daniela L.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72507
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5473-3566
Description
Summary:In this paper we present a method for automatically planning optimal paths for a group of robots that satisfy a common high level mission specification. Each robot's motion in the environment is modeled as a weighted transition system. The mission is given as a Linear Temporal Logic formula. In addition, an optimizing proposition must repeatedly be satisfied. The goal is to minimize the maximum time between satisfying instances of the optimizing proposition. Our method is guaranteed to compute an optimal set of robot paths. We utilize a timed automaton representation in order to capture the relative position of the robots in the environment. We then obtain a bisimulation of this timed automaton as a finite transition system that captures the joint behavior of the robots and apply our earlier algorithm for the single robot case to optimize the group motion. We present a simulation of a persistent monitoring task in a road network environment.