Sharing charging stations for long-term activity of autonomous robots

To operate over a long period of time, autonomous mobile robots must have the capability of recharging themselves whenever necessary. In addition to be able to find and connect to a power source, robots must also consider taking actions to preserve and share energy in an environment where energy is a limited resource. Coordination is then required to ensure the survival of the group and the accomplishment of the robots´ tasks. This paper explores these issues by allowing robots to predict and reason about their energetic capabilities, as individuals and as a group. The approach described allows robots to determine when to recharge, when to change their activity level and how long they should recharge. Validation of the work is done in simulation to demonstrate the versatility of the approach for different numbers of robots and power sources. Experiments with Pioneer 2 robots are also reported.