Continuous area sweeping: a task definition and initial approach

As mobile robots become increasingly autonomous over extended periods of time, opportunities arise for their use on repetitive tasks. We define and implement behaviors for a class of such tasks that we call continuous area sweeping tasks. A continuous area sweeping task is one in which a robot (or group of robots) must repeatedly visit all points in a fixed area, possibly with non-uniform frequency, as specified by a task-dependent cost function. Examples of problems that need continuous area sweeping are trash removal in a large building and routine surveillance. We present a formulation for this problem and an initial algorithm to address it. The approach is analyzed analytically and is fully implemented and tested, both in simulation and on a physical robot