In this paper, we propose a distributed version of the Hungarian method to solve the well-known assignment problem. In the context of multirobot applications, all robots cooperatively compute a common assignment that optimizes a given global criterion (e.g., the total distance traveled) within a finite set of local computations and communications over a peer-to-peer network. As a motivating application, we consider a class of multirobot routing problems with “spatiotemporal” constraints, i.e., spatial targets that require servicing at particular time instants. As a means of demonstrating the theory developed in this paper, the robots cooperatively find online suboptimal routes by applying an iterative version of the proposed algorithm in a distributed and dynamic setting. As a concrete experimental test bed, we provide an interactive “multirobot orchestral” framework, in which a team of robots cooperatively plays a piece of music on a so-called orchestral floor.

This paper presents preliminary results of a mobile manipulator robot tasked to play the classic Towers of Hanoi game. We first discuss the control algorithms necessary to enable necessary game-playing behavior and provide results of implementing our methodology in a high fidelity 3D environment. After attaining success in the simulation environment, we provide results on implementation of the same control software using physical robot hardware. Additionally, preliminary analysis for implementing analog Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control on this platform using a floating-gate based reconfigurable analog IC is explored. Using this concept of floating gate analog arrays for control enables off-loading of the processing, which could be helpful for real-time implementation of robot behavior.