Distributed Robotic Target Acquisition using Bluetooth Communication J.T. McClain, B.J. Wimpey, D.H. Barnhard, and W.D. Potter Artificial Intelligence Center The University of Georgia Athens, Georgia

Introduction Goals Solve a team-based “search and destroy” task Develop a robust chassis for multi-robot teams Create a method for distributed message passing within a robotic network

Odin and Hodur Preliminary project Primary goal was to develop the communication system Honeybee Task Localization Architecture prototyping

Current Phase

Hardware The Collective multi- robot system A team of modified Motorworks radio- controlled tanks Sensory facilities include four sonar rangers, magnetic compass, and four light intensity sensors Actuators include two independently driven treads and a firing mechanism

Hardware Robot Controller Network The primary controller on each robot is a Bluetooth enabled Compaq iPAQ 3970 (Pocket PC 2002) Primitive sensor and actuator functions are handled by a network of two microcontrollers, an Acroname Brainstem GP 1.0 and a Brainstem Moto 1.0

Hardware Brainstem GP (Router) Moto iPAQ/Brainstem Control Network

Hardware Overview

Sensor Overview

Hardware The Bluetooth Wireless Protocol A proprietary wireless protocol that is intended to create a short-range radio link between electronic devices Primarily used as a wireless desktop solution due to its relatively short range of approximately 30 feet Characterized by robustness, low complexity, low power, high data transmission speed, security, and low cost

Communications Previous Version In the Odin and Hodur model, a loss of one robot would result in mission failure Current Version Use of Routing Information Protocol (RIP) prevents this problem Sends a “heartbeat” at regular intervals Keeps all robots informed of the status of the others

Behavior Distributed Search As the process begins, all robots are searching for the target Discovery Once the target has been found, localization begins After localization, the coordinates of the target are passed to the other robots

Behavior Formation Once the target is found, the robot that first acquired the target is considered a leader It is the leader’s responsibility to determine the placement of the other tanks Based upon the number of robots that are still “alive” in the status table Dependent on the location in the environment

Conclusion and Future Directions Preliminary results indicate that cooperating tanks are a viable option for a distributed search Future Work Dynamically tracking moving targets Improved strategic planning Better localization scheme