A Hybrid Dynamic Systems Approach to Optimal Dynamic Role Assignment and Physics-Based Robot Trajectory Planning in RoboCup

Based on a nonlinear hybrid dynamic systems approach a new paradigm for goal-oriented dynamic cooperation of multiple robots is investigated within the RoboCup scenario. The time dependent hybrid state of the whole system consists of discrete (roles, actions) and continuous (position, orientation, velocity) state variables of all mobile robots and objects involved. The evolution in time of the system’s state is described by a hybrid state automaton. The presented approach enables a tight and formal coupling of discrete and continuous state dynamics, i.e., of dynamic role and action assignment and sequencing as well as of the physical motion behavior of a single robot. The problem of optimal hybrid state trajectories that minimize a merit function for optimal multi-robot cooperation subject to further constraints is transformed to a mixed-integer dynamic optimization problem which is solved numerically. The new approach enables the integration of physics-based trajectory planning and dynamic role assignment in architectures and design methodologies for multi-robot control. The approach presented in this paper can also be applied to any other scenario of mobile multi-robot cooperation where the physical motion properties are of high significance.