Coordinated Multi-Robot Exploration:Out of the Box Packages for ROS Publications on self-organizing networked systems

Abstract—We present and evaluate new ROS packages for
coordinated multi-robot exploration, namely communication,
global map construction, and exploration. The packages allow
completely distributed control and do not rely on (but allow)
central controllers. Their integration including application layer
protocols allows out of the box installation and execution. The
communication package enables reliable ad hoc communication
allowing to exchange local maps between robots which are
merged to a global map. Exploration uses the global map
to spatially spread robots and decrease exploration time. The
intention of the implementation is to offer basic functionality for
coordinated multi-robot systems and to enable other research
groups to experimentally work on multi-robot systems. The
packages are tested in real-world experiments using Turtlebot
and Pioneer robots. Further, we analyze their performance using
simulations and verify their correct working.