Scalable Bayesian human-robot cooperation in mobile sensor networks

In this paper, scalable collaborative human-robot systems for information gathering applications are approached as a decentralized Bayesian sensor network problem. Human-computer augmented nodes and autonomous mobile sensor platforms are collaborating on a peer-to-peer basis by sharing information via wireless communication network. For each node, a computer (onboard the platform or carried by the human) implements both a decentralized Bayesian data fusion algorithm and a decentralized Bayesian control negotiation algorithm. The individual node controllers iteratively negotiate anonymously with each other in the information space to find cooperative search plans based on both observed and predicted information that explicitly consider the platforms (humans and robots) motion models, their sensors detection functions, as well as the target arbitrary motion model. The results of a collaborative multi-target search experiment conducted with a team of four autonomous mobile sensor platforms and five humans carrying small portable computers with wireless communication are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.