Multi-Agent Coverage Search in Unknown Environments with Obstacles: A Survey

Coverage search problem is a hot research topic in computational geometry, robotics, and artificial intelligence. It not only involves basic theoretical problems such as environment modeling, optimal agent deployment, search path planning, algorithm design and analysis, but also has a wide range of applications such as the evacuation of dangerous areas, target search, and exploration of unknown environments. In view of this kind of problem, many excellent results have been achieved in recent years. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on coverage search in unknown environments especially in obstacle-rich environments. The relevant works on environment modeling, agent deployment, search algorithm, etc. will be discussed and summarized. Finally, the challenges will be identified and some suggested future work will be highlighted.