Sentinel: A System for Command and Control of Small Teleoperated Robots

Teams of small robots have many potential applications in urban warfare, but limited communications bandwidth prevents operators from teleoperating many robots in the same environment. We propose to develop the Sentinel multirobot control system that will enable a single operator to effectively control a team of small robots in urban terrain. Four Sentinel prototype robots will be developed based on PackBot UGVs equipped with stereo vision and LIDAR sensors. The operator will be able to dynamically select groups of robots using a graphical user interface. This interface will allow the operator to specify a waypoint path using an overhead map and designate specific leader and follower robots. The leader robot may be teleoperated or may navigate autonomously. The operator will be able to select a formation, and the follower robots will automatically form on the leader. Distributed control strategies will allow the robots to cooperate in a manner that is robust to temporary communications loss or the loss of individual robots. These behaviors will enable the team to maintain formation while navigating to waypoints. The robots will temporarily break formation to steer around obstacles and then automatically reform on the other side of those obstacles.