Distributed control architecture for SSL soccer robots

A distributed control architecture for SSL soccer robots is proposed. The system harnesses the advantages of both the centralised and decentralised control strategies. This yields a hybrid system with semi-autonomous robots. The robots are given some autonomy by integrating the navigation and control on the robots themselves. This results in a reduction of the burden on the communication network. Vision data from an overhead camera is fused with inertial measurements of an onboard Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). The fusion is performed using Kalman filters. This ensures reliable and accurate position, orientation and velocity information on the robot. Test results show an improvement in the controller performance as a result of the proposed system.