A distributed control architecture for an experimental mobile robot

The authors present an ICAR (intelligent cooperative autonomous robot) mobile robot using a distributed architecture. This mobile robot must be able to perform tasks ordered by a supervisor or another robot. A team can be built in which several ICAR agents can work in cooperation on distributed or sequential tasks. To accomplish a mission in multi-robot environments, cooperative behaviour with specific rules is necessary. After having dealt with the general interest of a such structure, the authors present the motion control devices, the sensing functions, the control architecture and the internal and external networks required for ICAR agent conception. They present the communication strategy of the external network, and the interpretation and decision strategy. In conclusion, the first results obtained from a such structure are detailed.