IRoN: An Inter Robot Network and three examples on multiple mobile robots' motion coordination

This paper describes concept and realization of IRoN (Inter Robot Network), a wireless communication network to support cooperation among mobile robots. From the point of view of the user (application programmer), IRoN has the following features: A list of surrounding robots with current position and speed is always available (by so-called implicit communication). Additionally, communication with any robot can be initiated from the user program explicitly (by so-called explicit communication). The paper also describes a simple application example: how simultaneous motion of two mobile robots can be achieved. Three different user program examples using different features of IRoN are described. The achieved motion delay ranges from about 1000 ms in the first user program, down to 50 ms in the third user program. IRoN will be used for further cooperation experiments involving three robots: a first experiment is reported in the conclusion.