UC Merced Team Description Paper: Robocup 2009 Virtual Robot Rescue Simulation Competition

In this paper, we present a general description of the software architecture and algorithms to be used by the UC Merced team during the Virtual Robot Rescue Simulation Competition at RoboCup 2009. Building upon our good performance in the same competition last year, our framework and team description paper will closely resemble past work. Our goal is to concentrate on robotic cooperation and the related software issues. The approach presented will focus on the interaction of multiple and heterogeneous robotic platforms working together to achieve common goals: safely traversing terrain, localization, mapping, and victim identification. More specifically, we propose the use of two distinct controllers, each controlling different robotic platforms and exchanging information through a joint communication protocol. In addition to the discussion of specific algorithms and implementation methods, the paper will describe the overall approach used to maximize victim detection and ground coverage, essential components of the competition.