What to do When You’re Lost at the Zoo

We consider the problem of rendezvous between two robots exploring an unknown environment. That is, how can two autonomous exploring a ents that cannot communicate with one another over long distances meet if they start exploring at different locations inan unknown environment. The intended application s collaborative map exploration. Ours is the first work to formalize th characteristics of the rendezvous problem, and we approach it by proposing several ternative algorithms that the robots could use in attempting to rendezvous quickly while continuing toexplore. The algorithms are based on the assumption that potential rendezvous locations, called landmarks, can be selected bythe robots as they explore; these locations are based on a distinctiveness m a ure computed with an arbitrary sensor. We consider the performance of our proposed algorithms analytically with respect toboth expectedand worst-case b haviour. We then examine their behaviour nder a wider set of conditions in simulation.