College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People's Republic of China.
State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, Intelligent Biomimetic Design Lab, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2022 Jul 20;17(5). doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/ac7d28.
Due to the challenging communication and control systems, few underwater multi-robot coordination systems are currently developed. In nature, weakly electric fish can organize their collective activities using electrocommunication in turbid water. Inspired by this communication mechanism, we developed an artificial electrocommunication system for underwater robots in our previous work. In this study, we coordinate a group of underwater robots using this bio-inspired electrocommunication. We first design a time division multiple access (TDMA) network protocol for electrocommunication to avoid communication conflicts during multi-robot coordination. Then, we revise a distributed controller to coordinate a group of underwater robots. The distributed controller on each robot generates the required controls based on adjacent states obtained through electrocommunication. A central pattern generator (CPG) controller is designed to adjust the speed of individuals according to distributed control law. Simulations and experimental results show that a group of underwater robots is able to achieve coordination with the developed electrocommunication and control systems.
由于具有挑战性的通信和控制系统，目前开发的水下多机器人协调系统很少。在自然界中，电鱼可以利用电通信在浑浊的水中组织它们的集体活动。受此通信机制的启发，我们在之前的工作中为水下机器人开发了一种人工电通信系统。在这项研究中，我们使用这种受生物启发的电通信来协调一组水下机器人。我们首先为电通信设计了时分多址 (TDMA) 网络协议，以避免多机器人协调期间的通信冲突。然后，我们修改了分布式控制器来协调一组水下机器人。每个机器人上的分布式控制器根据通过电通信获得的相邻状态生成所需的控制。设计了中央模式发生器 (CPG) 控制器，根据分布式控制律来调整个体的速度。仿真和实验结果表明，一组水下机器人能够通过所开发的电通信和控制系统实现协调。
