Low-cost wireless mobile ad-hoc network robotic testbed

Collaborating mobile robots equipped with WiFi transceivers are configured as a mobile ad-hoc network. Algorithms are developed to take advantage of the distributed processing capability inherent to multi-agent systems. The focus of this study will be to determine the optimal amount of communication which allows the robots to share a sufficiently detailed global map, while keeping their processing time and energy usage to a minimum. A hardware testbed is described, which will be used to examine these trade-offs in an indoor laboratory-scale test area. Single robot test results are presented.