We are glad to announce the live edition of the Encyclopedia of Robotics, published by Springer. It includes our contribution dedicated to Multi-Robot Systems. The chapter is entitled: “Agent-Based Software Engineering for Robotics“. It addresses the issue of coordination models for fleets of robots viewed as multi-agent systems. From this perspective robots are considered autonomous entities capable of taking individual decisions based on their respective local knowledge. This approach allows distributing the computational effort over all involved robots. It allows benefiting from the scalability and robustness that makes multi-robot systems attractive. However, these benefits require coordinating the whole fleet to efficiently achieve a shared mission.

Chapter’s Outline

• Definitions
  • Agent
  • Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) vs. Multi-Robot Systems (MRS)
  • Organization
  • Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE)
• A Taxonomy of Multi-Agent Systems
• Intentional Cooperation for Task Allocation
• Coordination Through Roles
• Communication and Middleware
• Network Management at the Application Level
• Application Examples
  • Search & Rescue
  • RoboCup Soccer
  • Foraging
• Future Directions for Research

About the Encyclopedia of Robotics – Editors: Marcelo H. Ang, Oussama Khatib, Bruno Siciliano

The Springer Reference Work Encyclopedia of Robotics addresses the existing need for an easily accessible yet authoritative and granular knowledge resource in robotic science and engineering.

The encyclopedia is a work that comprehensively explains the scientific, application-based, interactive, and socio-ethical parameters of robotics. It is the first work that explains at the concept and fact level the state of the field of robotics and its future directions.

The encyclopedia is a complement to Springer’s highly successful Handbook of Robotics that has analyzed the state of robotics through the medium of descriptive essays. Organized in an A-Z format for quick and easy understanding of both the basic and advanced topics across a broad spectrum of areas in a self-contained form. The entries in this Encyclopedia will be a comprehensive description of terms used in robotics science and technology. Each term, when useful, is described concisely with online illustrations and enhanced user interactivity.