{"573271":{"#nid":"573271","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Team of Robots Learns to Work Together, Without Colliding","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen roboticists create behaviors for teams of robots, they first build algorithms that focus on the intended task. Then they wrap safety behaviors around those primary algorithms to keep the machines from running into each other. Each robot is essentially given an invisible bubble that other robots must stay away from. As long as nothing touches the bubble, the robots move around without any issues. But that\u2019s where the problems begin.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen you have too many robots together, they get so focused on not colliding with each other that they eventually just stop moving,\u201d said Georgia Tech roboticist \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gritslab.gatech.edu\/home\/\u0022\u003EMagnus Egerstedt\u003C\/a\u003E, director of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.robotics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cTheir safety behaviors take over and the robots freeze. It\u2019s impossible for them to go anywhere because any movement would cause their bubbles to pop.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEgerstedt has created a solution. His team\u2019s new algorithms allow any number of robots to move within inches of each other, without colliding, to complete their task \u2014 swapping locations on his lab floor. They are the first researchers to create such minimally invasive safety algorithms.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn technical speak, the bots are using a set of safe states and barrier certificates to ensure each stays in its own safe set throughout the entire maneuver.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn everyday speak, we\u2019ve shrunk the size of each robot\u2019s bubble to make it as small as possible,\u201d said Egerstedt, who is also the Julian T. Hightower Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. \u201cOur system allows the robots to make the minimum amount of changes to their original behaviors in order to accomplish the task and not smack into each other.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2uujKTU0TYE\u0022\u003EIn a demo with four robots\u003C\/a\u003E, the lab\u2019s machines approach from four different areas, meet in the middle, circle counterclockwise within inches of each other, then fan out into opposite directions. In another demonstration, eight robots perform the same task, this time circling clockwise before dispersing. Instead of keeping their distance and taking the long way around their neighbors, the robots move very independently wherever they wish.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAvoiding collisions isn\u2019t anything new in robotics. And Google\u2019s self-driving cars are almost crash-free.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut we haven\u2019t seen thousands of autonomous cars on the road together yet,\u201d Egerstedt said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cRobots are very conservative \u2014 they want to make sure they\u2019re safe. You couldn\u2019t pack the interstate with self-driving cars with today\u2019s technology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEgerstedt also said something similar to these algorithms could be used for the next generation of air traffic control. Instead of people directing the flow, planes will be given the authority in airspaces.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey\u2019ll have to be safer if we plan to pack the airspace more densely.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe paper about the project, \u201cMulti-objective Compositions for Collision-Free Connectivity Maintenance in Teams of Mobile Robots,\u201d has been accepted at this year\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cdc2016.ieeecss.org\/\u0022\u003EIEEE Conference on Decision and Control\u003C\/a\u003E in Las Vegas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (grant numbers 1544332 and 1239055). \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAny opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors. \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENew algorithms allow any number of robots to move within inches of each other, without colliding, to complete their task \u2014 swapping locations on his lab floor. They are the first researchers to create such minimally invasive safety algorithms.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers shrink size of robotic \u0022bubbles\u0022 to avoid collisions of teams of machines."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2016-09-06 13:37:19","changed_gmt":"2022-05-26 17:09:36","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-09-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-09-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"556671":{"id":"556671","type":"image","title":"Magnus Egerstedt Again","body":null,"created":"1469808608","gmt_created":"2016-07-29 16:10:08","changed":"1475895355","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:55","alt":"Magnus Egerstedt Again","file":{"fid":"206637","name":"magnus_with_robot_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/magnus_with_robot_2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/magnus_with_robot_2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":848556,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/magnus_with_robot_2.jpg?itok=4cLPYrsW"}}},"media_ids":["556671"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/gritslab.gatech.edu\/home\/","title":"GRITS Lab"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer - National Media Relations\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}