Autonomous agents coordination through traffic signals and rules

This paper presents a system architecture that allows a physical agent (i.e., a mobile robot) to perform actions in an indoor environment, solving navigation conflicts with other physical agents (i.e., robots and humans) through the use of road traffic signs and rules. Robots move themselves following lines drawn on the floor by means of a CCD camera; the CCD camera is also used to recognize traffic signs. Traffic signs recognized by the camera, information on the neighbor agents acquired through infrared and ultrasound sensors, and the knowledge about traffic rules, are used to coordinate robots interactions. The proposed system architecture has been tested on two different kinds of mobile robot (i.e., the Nomad200 and the B14), demonstrating good performances in an indoor environment where other agents acts, part of them following traffic rules and part of them freely moving