Courteous Cars: Decentralized Multiagent Traffic Coordination

A major goal in robotics is to develop machines that perform useful tasks with minimal supervision. Instead of requiring each small detail to be specified, we would like to describe the task at a high level and have the system autonomously execute in a manner that satisfies that desired task. While the single robot case is difficult enough, moving to a multirobot behavior adds another layer of challenges. Having every robot achieve its specific goals while contributing to a global coordinated task requires each robot to react to information about other robots, for example, to avoid collisions. Furthermore, each robot must incorporate new information into its decision framework to react to environmental changes induced by other robots since this knowledge may effect its behavior. Comments Reprinted from IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, March 2008, pages 30-38. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of the University of Pennsylvania's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/ese_papers/353