Millibots: a Distributed Heterogeneous Robot Team

In this article, we present the design of a team of heterogeneous, centimeter-scale robots – called Millibots that coordinate to provide real-time surveillance and reconnaissance. The robot team exploits modular sensing, processing and mobility to achieve a wide range of tasks that include mapping and exploration as well as support for fire rescue. To achieve extended team operation in the face of uncertainty, we have developed a localization system that uses sonar-based distance measurements to determine the positions of all the robots in the group. We describe how the team coordinates sensing and action to utilize localization and maintain group position Furthermore, by incorporating Bayesian techniques in data fusion, we are able to integrate individual robot sensing to generate composite area maps. This technique is further extended to merge ranging and heat information to detect and isolate potential warm bodies in a fire rescue scenario.