Collaboration Layer for Robots in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

In many applications multiple robots in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks are required to collaborate in order to solve a task. This paper shows by proof of concept that a Collaboration Layer can be modelled and designed to handle the collaborative communication, which enables robots in small to medium size networks to solve tasks collaboratively. In this proposal the Collaboration Layer is modelled to handle service and position discovery, group management, and synchronisation among robots, but the layer is also designed to be extendable. Based on this model of the Collaboration Layer, generic services are provided to the application running on the robot. The services are generic because they can be used by many different applications, independent of the task to be solved. Likewise, specific services are requested from the underlying Virtual Machine, such as broadcast, multicast, and reliable unicast. A prototype of the Collaboration Layer has been developed to run in a simulated environment and tested in an evaluation scenario. In the scenario five robots solve the tasks of vacuum cleaning and entrance guarding, which involves the ability to discover potential co-workers, form groups, shift from one group to another, and communicate among group members. The successful outcome of the evaluation scenario indicates that a generic Collaboration Layer may be realisable.