BICLARE: A Bio-Inspired Collaborative and Lightweight Algorithm for Robust Exploration
H.J.P. van Dijk (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Suryansh Sharma – Mentor (TU Delft - Networked Systems)
RangaRao Venkatesha Prasad – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Networked Systems)
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Abstract
Knowing the floorplan of an incident site beforehand allows first responders to operate quicker and more efficient. This thesis explores the potential of using robotic swarms for environment mapping, with the goal of deploying these swarms to create maps before emergency personnel arrive on the scene. We present BICLARE, a lightweight collaborative algorithm for robust exploration. Inspired by ant colony behaviour, specifically how they use pheromones for communication and navigation, BICLARE implements a confidence model to determine the occupancy of cells within a map. Target selection considering travel time and estimated battery power ensures its efficiency. Including computation-saving parameters ensures it lightweight execution, enabling it to work on inexpensive hardware. The performance of the algorithm was evaluated through a series of simulated experiments in a variety of environments, proving it can generate accurate maps with adequate coverage in noisy, volatile environments. A real-life experiment demonstrated that it can successfully run on low-cost hardware in a real-world experiment.