Flock identification using connected components labeling for multi-robot shepherding

Shepherding is often used in robotics and applied to various domains such as military in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) combat scenarios, disaster rescue and even in manufacturing. Generally, robot shepherding refers to a task of a robot known as shepherd or sheep herder, who guards and takes care of flocks of sheep, to make sure that the flock is intact and protect them from predators. In order to make an accurate decision, the shepherd needs to identify the flock that needs to be managed. How does the shepherd can precisely identify a group of animals as a flock? How can one actually judge a flock of sheep, is a flock? How does the shepherd decide how to approach or to steer the flock? These are the questions that relates to flock identification. In this paper, a new method using connected components labeling is proposed to cater the problem of flock identification in multi-robot shepherding scenarios. The results shows that it is a feasible approach, and can be used when integrated with the Player/Stage robotics simulation platform.