Robust navigation control and synchronization of networked robots

In an environment where a large number of networked robots are actively providing service, the navigation control and synchronization between the robots become a very important factor in terms of time it takes for the robots to complete tasks they are given especially in physically large-scale areas. The large-scale environment needs to be divided into multiple cells, each of which covers a specific area within the service area to ensure a proper communication link with robots. Using a relay functionality of the each cell, a centralized system can seamlessly control robots navigation. We assume that the path information for robots, called as segment in this paper, is given from a separate path planning system. The path is divided into two types: one without deadline constraint and one with deadline constraint. Due to randomness of events that prevent uninterrupted navigation, the robots can rarely navigate to the target position with a uniform speed. This severely affects the path planning system for choosing the most optimal robot and for planning a path for it while attempting to meet the service deadline constraints. In this paper, we make an attempt to minimize (1) the difference between the actual navigation time and the time that the system identifies, (2) the difference between the deadline to complete a segment and the time that the robot navigates the segment through, and (3) to seamlessly navigate robots from one cell to another.