Task Allocation for Teams of Aerial Robots Equipped with Manipulators in Assembly Operations

The work presented in this paper is part of the autonomous planning architecture of a team of aerial robots equipped with on-board robotic arms. The mission of the team is the construction of structures in places where the access is difficult by conventional means, which is the scenario considered in the framework of the ARCAS European Project. This paper presents a planning engine for this context. From the 3D CAD model of the structure an assembly planner computes the required assembly tasks, which are the inputs for the system. These tasks are assigned to the available aerial robots by a task allocation planner, which computes an assignment and improves it step by step by communicating with a symbolic planner. The symbolic planner estimates the cost of the sequence of actions needed in the mission execution for the given assignment. This paper presents simulation results that show the feasibility of the approach and a comparison between different solvers.