A Software Control Framework for Learning Coordinated, Multi-Robot Strategies in Open Environments

Abstract

The UMass MARS team contributed technology and infrastructure for the control of adaptive sensory and motor processes. We developed a suite of techniques for capturing interesting process dynamics in specific run-time contexts in order to learn control decisions. Particular attention was paid to the ability of teams of robots to adapt dynamically to changes in environment and mission requirements. The UMass effort marries high-level process descriptions, discrete event analysis and model checking, learning and stochastic exploration, and a control theoretic substrate to accomplish these goals. Distributed control Technologies have been transferred to SPAWAR in San Diego, CA. "Whole-body" distributed manipulation controllers and finger gaiting code for autonomous manipulation tasks have been ported to NASA-JSC for use in the Robonaut program. With related funding under the DARPA DASADA program, contractors of the U.S. Army for the Rotorcraft Pilot's Associate (RPA) and * Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) programs are exploring the use of Containment Units (CUs) to build adaptable systems.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 22, 2003
Accession Number
ADA418131

Entities

People

  • Roderic Grupen

Organizations

  • University of Massachusetts Amherst

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Area Defense
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • High Altitude
  • Human-Robot Interaction
  • Language
  • Motion Planning
  • Organizational Structure
  • Robotics
  • Robots
  • Sensor Networks
  • Three Dimensional
  • Virtual Reality

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Robotics and Automation.
  • Software Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - Autonomous System Control