Multi-Robot Hierarchical Control for Interface-Free Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-robot systems face challenges in maintaining operational robustness and adaptability when robot specifications change or new robots are introduced, requiring complex integration and synchronization of information across the system.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous body system where subordinate autonomous bodies do not need to explicitly include an interface with a superior autonomous body, allowing for easy connection and adaptation, with a superior body that can adapt to changes in subordinate bodies without special work, using a situation grasping, operation determining, and operation executing units to manage operations across the system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If each robot includes an interface for communication with a controller and information is integrated and synchronized, then control precision and coordination are improved, but device complexity and difficulty of adaptation increase when robot specifications change
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mediator robot that acts as an intermediary between the controller and subordinate robots. The mediator robot receives control instructions from the superior robot and transmits them to subordinate robots, while also collecting situation information from subordinate robots and relaying it upward. This intermediary structure eliminates the need for direct interfaces between the controller and each subordinate robot, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining control precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The mediator robot serves multiple functions: it acts as a control instruction transmitter, a situation information collector, and a coordination hub for multiple subordinate robots. By making the mediator robot multi-functional, the system reduces the number of separate interfaces and communication channels needed, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining effective control and coordination.
2Stability of the object's composition
If information integration and synchronization are guaranteed across all robots, then system coordination is improved, but adaptability to specification changes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the multi-robot system into a hierarchical structure with a superior robot (mediator) and subordinate robots. Each subordinate robot only needs to communicate with the mediator robot, not with every other robot in the system. This segmentation allows subordinate robots to be added, removed, or modified without requiring reintegration of information across the entire system, thereby improving adaptability while maintaining coordination through the mediator.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic adaptation where the mediator robot can adjust control instructions and information flow based on the current capabilities and specifications of subordinate robots. When a subordinate robot's specifications change, the mediator dynamically adjusts its communication and control strategies without requiring system-wide reconfiguration, thus maintaining both coordination and adaptability.
3Reliability
If interfaces and information integration are required for each robot, then control reliability is improved, but ease of operation and system updates deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The mediator robot serves as a buffer that ensures reliable control by centralizing the information integration and synchronization functions. Subordinate robots only need to communicate with the mediator, which handles the complexity of information integration. This approach maintains control reliability through centralized coordination while greatly simplifying the operation and updating of individual subordinate robots, as they don't require complex interfaces with the entire system.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous system including a plurality of autonomous bodies, each of the autonomous bodies includes a situation grasping unit that grasps situation, an operation determining unit that determines an operation based on the grasped situation, and an operation executing unit that executes the determined operation, the plurality of autonomous bodies included in the autonomous body system includes one or more first autonomous bodies and two or more second autonomous bodies, situation grasped by the situation grasping unit of the first autonomous body includes situation of the second autonomous body, the situation grasped by the situation grasping unit of the second autonomous body includes a result of an operation executed by the operation executing unit of the first autonomous body, and the operation determining unit of the second autonomous body determines an operation based on the result of the operation executed by the operation executing unit of the first autonomous body.