Multi-Robot Pursuit With Visibility Constraints

Abstract

We address the problem of pursuing a moving target from multiple angles using multiple mobile robots. The pursuer uses a modified form of pursuit curve in order to reach the multiple aim points which are at a pre-determined distance and angle from the target This is different from existing works that track a target to localize it, follow a target by keeping it in the current frame of view generally from behind the target, or pursue a target in order to establish a line of sight. The focus in our work is on an efficient pursuit of the target such that the pursuers move to a position in order to obtain certain task specific information or perform actions that require specific positioning with respect to the target. Examples include following a target and taking left, right, and frontal images of it for accurate identification, or robots approaching a vehicle for docking, etc. In this paper, we define the multi-angle pursuit problem for multiple robots and present a pareto optimal solution for task allocation.