Multi-robot Coverage Considering Line-of-sight Conditions

In this paper, we present a novel approach to the area coverage problem by using a team of heterogeneous mobile robots. In our method, a parent robot is assumed to possess state-of-the-art sensors and sufficient computation power to establish robust localization and navigation. A large number of inexpensive and small child robots possess only restricted sensing and computation capabilities. They can only fulfill a certain task, e.g., floor-cleaning, but can be teleoperated in line-of-sight of the parent robot. To exploit the advantages of both types of robots, the team cooperatively covers the area in an efficient way.In contrast to other approaches and due to the cooperation of the robots, we can relax the requirement that every robot must be able to self-localize and robustly navigate to take part in efficient multi-robot coverage. Simulation results are presented in which our approach was tested intensively.