New path planning scheme for complete coverage of mapped areas by single and multiple robots

This work details a method of path planning for complete coverage designed to minimize energy consumption; an idea that has not been rigorously investigated in the past. Such a system should prove useful for planetary exploration due to the limited supply of electrical power available to exploring robots. Our system accepts as input terrain maps detailing the energy consumption required to move to each of eight adjacent points. Exploration is performed via a cost function which determines the robot's next move. This system was successfully extended to groups of two, three and four robots by means of a shared exploration map. The energy consumed by our system was substantially less than that consumed by a boustrophedon (back and forth) coverage pattern.