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Distributed autonomous robotic systems : the 10th International Symposium
Martinoli A., Mondada F., Correll N., Mermoud G., Egerstedt M., Hsieh M., Parker L., Støy K., Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated, New York, NY, 2012. 636 pp. Type: Book (978-3-642327-22-3)
Date Reviewed: Feb 1 2013

This book is published under the “Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics” (STAR) series, which is devoted to bringing the latest advances in the robotics field, on the basis of their significance and quality, to the research community. Springer’s objective with this series is to promote more exchanges and collaborations among the researchers in the community, and thus contribute to further advancements.

Particularly, this book covers Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS), a thematic symposium devoted to excellence in robotics research. DARS is a single-track conference that, every two years, gathers the main researchers in the field in order “to exchange and stimulate research ideas to realize advanced distributed robotic systems.” This volume of proceedings includes 43 original contributions presented at the Tenth International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2010).

The volume is edited by Martinoli et al., and offers in its selected papers an interdisciplinary collection of technologies, algorithms, system architectures, and applications of advanced distributed robotic systems. The selected papers are by researchers from all over the world, providing broad coverage and many perspectives.

The book is organized into four thematic parts, each of which includes an introduction by a world-renowned scholar in the field: Part 1, “Distributed Sensing”; Part 2, “Localization, Navigation, and Formations”; Part 3, “Coordination Algorithms and Formal Methods”; and Part 4, “Modularity, Distributed Manipulation, and Platforms.” Overall, it seems that they are indeed representative of the current research activities in distributed robotics.

Part 1 presents a collection of selected research papers on distributed sensing, and generally on the use of distributed autonomous robotic systems to accomplish tasks within complex environments with limited resources. Quite interesting are some of the approaches that present a dynamic reconfiguration structure based on a software framework for the dynamic reassignment of tasks among robots. Overall, most of the research works presented in this part present interesting, ongoing efforts that address such challenges.

Part 2 presents research papers focused on some of the challenges across networks of mobile robots, such as navigation, localization, formation control, and network-level coordination and synchronization. Some of the solutions presented are quite interesting and definitely could be of interest to a large group of researchers.

Part 3 presents research works on the challenges imposed on mobility algorithms, such as coordination algorithms and formal methods in distributed robotic systems. Some of the approaches presented show how to automatically synthesize control and communications strategies for a robot team based on global specifications stated using regular expressions.

Part 4 presents research works on modularity, distributed manipulation, and platforms. Overall, the works presented in this part describe interesting approaches and provide solutions to the problems that arise when robots of a distributed autonomous robotic system get into physical contact directly, as is the case for modular robots, or indirectly through manipulated objects, as is the case for multi-robot systems.

This interesting collection of selected research papers provides a unique reference on the current developments in, and ongoing efforts with, distributed autonomous robotic systems. It is written for readers with a solid understanding of robotics. As a collection of novel research works on autonomous robotic systems, the book provides many interesting approaches, suggestions, and solutions to various critical problems in the development of robotics. In particular, I would suggest it to those readers who intend to advance their knowledge in these robotic fields. It may inspire and encourage them to further explore some of the approaches proposed. It is not suited for a course in robotics; however, it is appropriate for self-study at the postgraduate level. In general, it would definitely be useful to scientists and engineers working to advance autonomous robotic systems.

Reviewer:  George K. Adam Review #: CR140899 (1305-0359)
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Distributed Systems (C.2.4 )
 
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