Territory Division and Patrolling by a Group of Mobile Robots

Multi-robot system is an emerging research field and is a superior alternative for many applications. A task accomplished by multiple robots saves time and cost. This work aims at developing an area division algorithm and implementing patrolling of a group of mobile robots in a given area with failure handling mechanism. The area to be patrolled is known. There is a central server (lap-top) and three mobile robots in the scenario. The algorithm for dividing the area into three equal parts is executed in the server. Grid structure is used for implementing the patrolling. LPC2148 ARM7 microcontroller is used for controlling the mobile robot. The mobile robot used is iRobot Create. Zigbee is the wireless technology used for communication between the server and the three iRobots. The area information is communicated to the three mobile robots wirelessly and the robots patrol in their respective areas. The robots acknowledge after patrolling. If any of the robots fail during patrolling, due to low battery charge or power shut down, it is intimated to the server and the failed robot's area is divided into two halves by the area division algorithm and assigned to other two patrolling robots. Thus the system is made self-healing and it ensures successful completion of a task.