Software

The coordination_oru library

This software implements an online coordination method for multiple robots. Its main features are:

  • Goals can be posted and paths can be computed online, while robots in the fleet are in motion;
  • Precedences are inferred online, accounting for robot dynamics via provided dynamic models;
  • Very few assumptions are made on robot controllers;
  • The coordination method is not specific to a particular motion planning technique.

The software includes a basic 2D robot simulation and a simple built-in motion planner (which depends on the OMPL and MRPT libraries). A separate interface package is provided to enable the use of this software in conjunction with ROS and the navigation_oru stack to obtain a fully implemented stack for multi-robot coordination and motion planning.

The Meta-CSP Framework

Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP) consist of a finite set of variables, each associated with a finite domain, and a set of constraints which restrict simultaneous assignments to variables. A Meta-CSP is CSP formulation of a combinatorial problem which builds on lower-level CSPs.

This software framework provides tools for developing solvers for problems that can be cast as Meta-CSPs. The framework includes several built-in CSP and Meta-CSP problem solvers which can be used as “ingredients” for defining more sophisticated solvers. Among these, hybrid problem solvers which exemplify the natural predisposition of Meta-CSPs for solving hybrid reasoning problems.