Distributed Robot Consensus Control for Low-Bandwidth Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
In multi-agent systems where robots make action decisions based on observation information from all robots, the need to propagate and collect this information leads to increased communication bandwidth and memory requirements, which become unsustainable as the number of robots grows.
Innovation Solution
A control system comprising a control apparatus and multiple robots, where the control apparatus includes a function acquisition means, a function form conversion means, and a variable conversion means to convert functions into a distributed calculable form and set variables for each robot, enabling efficient information collection and processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If observation information of all robots is propagated through local communications among robots, then action decision accuracy is improved, but communication bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary observation information from all robots rather than propagating all raw sensor data. The control apparatus selectively collects and processes specific state variables needed for action decisions, filtering out redundant information to reduce communication bandwidth consumption while maintaining decision accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the information processing task by dividing it between individual robots (which perform local sensing and preliminary processing) and the central control apparatus (which aggregates and makes final decisions). This segmentation allows robots to send only processed state variables rather than raw sensor data, reducing communication overhead.
2Adaptability or versatility
If observation information of all robots is collected through bucket relay communication, then global awareness is improved, but memory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control apparatus extracts and stores only essential state variables from each robot's observation information rather than storing complete raw data. This selective extraction maintains global awareness needed for coordinated control while significantly reducing memory requirements in both robots and the control apparatus.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of robots storing all observation information and then communicating it, the system inverts the approach by having robots send only processed state variables to the control apparatus, which then maintains the global state. This inversion reduces memory burden on individual robots while preserving global awareness at the control level.
3Manufacturing precision
If complete observation information is propagated among all robots, then coordination accuracy is improved, but communication complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control apparatus serves as an intermediary between robots, receiving state variables from robots and distributing coordinated action commands back to them. This intermediary approach simplifies communication by establishing a centralized coordination point rather than requiring complex peer-to-peer communication networks, thereby reducing communication complexity while maintaining coordination accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A control system includes a control apparatus and a plurality of robots. The control apparatus includes a function acquisition unit that acquires a function, a function form conversion unit that converts the function into a distributed calculable form, and a variable conversion unit that sets, based on the function which form is converted, variables to be stored by each of the robots and a process corresponding to the variables, to the robot. Each of the plurality of robots a consensus control means that updates a variable value stored by the robot itself based on the set variable while sending and receiving variable values among other communicable robots, and a function value inference means that infers a function value from the variable based on the set process.