Distributed Decentralised Visual SLAM for Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract: A key challenge in multi robot systems is performing distributed SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping). The aim of this thesis is to be able to perform visual SLAM in a decentralised manner across multiple autonomous agents while minimising the inter-agent communication bandwidth requirement. For this purpose, the distributed multi-agent system communication protocol, Contract NET protocol has been suitably adapted to define the interaction between the autonomous agents [38]. The agents in this context could be mobile devices such as robots or autonomous cars. The agents communicate with one another by means of proposals and bids wherein each agent attempts to minimise the resources it has to spend while attempting to maximise the benefit derived from interacting with another agent in the system. Keeping this in mind, a set of rules have been defined for the agents to logic and reason independently based on the state information available to them so that they can take appropriate decisions by themselves without the need for an external intervention. This thesis work is directed towards the design and execution of a visual SLAM system in a multi-agent architecture that aims to improve the accuracy of the pose estimates of the agents, maximise the map area exploration and the accuracy of the map copies possessed by the agents while attempting to minimise the bandwidth required for the data exchange between them. The proposed multi agent system has been thoroughly studied and evaluated with multiple datasets to analyse its performance with respect to bandwidth requirements, stability, consistency, scalability, map accuracy and usage of temporal information.