EE - Planning and Control of Multi-robot Coordination

This one-semester undergraduate research project will investigate multi-robot situation awareness and autonomous planning using a team of mobile robots (BabyBots). The project will focus on addressing a robotic decision-making problem in grid-world environment in which multiple robots must perceive their surroundings, understand the motion and intentions of nearby robots, and safely coordinate their movements through a shared map.

Students will gain hands-on experience with Python, ROS, perception and path planning. The project will begin with simulation and individual robot testing, followed by integration and experiments involving multiple physical BabyBots. Students will evaluate the system using metrics such as mission success rate, collision rate, crossing time, waiting time, and robustness to sensing uncertainty.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqgjy0x6prY for a demo of the BabyBot platform.

Name of research group, project, or lab
ROAR Lab
Website
https://sites.nd.edu/roarlab/
Logistics Information:
Project categories
Electrical Engineering
Student ranks applicable
Junior
Senior
Student qualifications
  • Programming skills in Python or MATLAB.
  • Experience with robotic hardware.
  • Interest in AI, robotics or control theory. 
Hours per week
2 credits / 6-12 hours
3 credits / 12+ hours
Compensation
Research for Credit
Number of openings
3
This project will use an Expectations and Structure agreement.
Expectations and Structure

To ensure the successful completion of this project, students are expected to meet the following requirements:

  1. Amount of work performed over the semester = 3 hrs/week * 15 weeks * (# of credit hours). e.g., if you are registered for 2 credits, you should come to lab 3*15*2 = 90 hours of work over the semester or 6 hours/week, and must attend weekly group meeting. 
  2. The final report should contain approximately 1,000 words per credit hour, in addition to appropriate figures, plots, tables, and images.
  3. The oral presentation should be approximately 7 minutes per credit hour. Each student will present their work to at least two faculty members.
  4. Students are required to attend and present in the weekly group meetings.
Contact Information:
Mentor
Mengxue Hou
mhou@nd.edu
Assistant Professor
Name of project director or principal investigator
Mengxue Hou
Email address of project director or principal investigator
mhou@nd.edu
3 sp. | 1 appl.
Hours per week
2 credits / 6-12 hours (+1)
2 credits / 6-12 hours3 credits / 12+ hours
Project categories
Electrical Engineering