Autonomous and Adaptive Leader-Follower Protocol for Collaborative Robotics
- Program: Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Course: EN.520.506 ECE Undergraduate Research
Project Description:
For our project, we designed a robust protocol to autonomously coordinate a group of devices, in which there is one leader selected and the rest work as followers. The system is designed to adapt for devices dropping out of the network unexpectedly and for new devices to easily join the group. This protocol can be applied to any scenario with autonomous devices that have independent tasks. For example, in a search and rescue situation, a large number of automated search vehicles could employ this protocol to effectively survey a large area in a parallelized approach.
Our interactive demonstration uses Raspberry Pi computers as devices, which will work together to perform the task of playing a song. Each device will be assigned a different part (piano, saxophone, etc.) of the piece, clearly showing how distinct tasks are synchronously completed. Any device can be deactivated or reactivated through its touchscreen, and the status of the network can be seen in real time.
Project Photo:
This group of displays show the interactive demonstration of our protocol. There is one leader in the center and six followers surrounding it. Each display shows the track number that the device has been assigned to play.