A Programming Framework for Multi-agent Coordination of Robotic Ecologies

Building smart environments with robotic ecologies made up of distributed sensors, actuators and mobile robot devices extends the type of applications that can be considered, and reduces the complexity and cost of such solutions. While the potentials of such an approach makes robotic ecologies increasingly popular, many fundamental research questions remain open. One such question is how to make a robotic ecology self-adaptive, so as to adapt to changing conditions and evolving requirements, and consequently reduce the amount of preparation and pre-programming required for their deployment in real world applications. In this paper we present a framework for integrating an agent programming system with the traditional robotic and middleware approach to the development of robotic ecologies. We illustrate how these approaches can complement each other and how they provide an avenue where to pursue adaptive robotic ecologies.