Cooperation by observation: the framework and basic task patterns

A novel framework for multiple robot cooperation called “cooperation by observation” is presented. It introduces many interesting issues such as a viewpoint constraint and role interchange, as well as novel concepts like “attentional structure”. The framework has the potential to realize a high level of task coordination by decentralized autonomous robots allowing minimum explicit communication. Its source of power lies in an advanced capability given to each robot for recognizing other agent´s actions by (primarily visual) observation. This provides rich information about the current task situation around each robot which facilitates highly-structured task coordination. The basic visuo-motor routines are described. Concrete examples and experiments using real mobile robots are also presented