The Lasso Method for Multi-Robot Foraging

Abstract

We propose a novel approach to multi-robot foraging. This approach makes use of a scalar field to guide robots throughout an environment while gathering objects towards the goal. The environment must be planar with a closed, contiguous boundary. However, the boundary's shape can be arbitrary. Conventional robot foraging methods assume an open environment or a simple boundary that never impedes the robots—a limitation which our method overcomes. Our distributed control algorithm causes the robots to circumnavigate the environment and nudge objects inwards towards the goal. We demonstrate the performance of our approach using real-world and simulated experiments and study the impact of the number of robots, the complexity of the boundary, and limitations on the sensing range.