arXiv subjects

Loy McGuire

Publications and source records attributed to Loy McGuire.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Redirecting counter-moving swarms through collision

Multi-swarm systems, where two or more swarms of mobile agents occupy the same region of space with different parameters and goals, occur in a variety of biological, engineering, and defense applications. Composites of multiple swarms can produce hybrid spatiotemporal patterns, which compared to single swarming systems, are relatively unexplored. In this work, we develop a framework for studying the collision of counter-moving swarms, each with its own preferred, stable velocity before collision. We show that redirection of such swarms after collision occurs when a stable velocity synchronized state of the multi-swarm composite exists. Using a rigid-body approximation, we are able to extract how scatter-redirection transitions scale with swarm parameters in a variety of scenarios from reciprocal and non-reciprocal systems to symmetric and antagonistic parameter values. Our results compare well to simulations of both particle modeled agents and wheeled robots.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2023

UAV Routing for Enhancing the Performance of a Classifier-in-the-loop

Some human-machine systems are designed so that machines (robots) gather and deliver data to remotely located operators (humans) through an interface in order to aid them in classification. The performance of a human as a (binary) classifier-in-the-loop is characterized by probabilities of correctly classifying objects of type $T$ and $F$. These two probabilities depend on the dwell time, $d$, spent collecting information at a point of interest (POI or interchangeably, target). The information gain associated with collecting information at a target is then a function of dwell time $d$ and discounted by the revisit time, $R$, i.e., the duration between consecutive revisits to the same target. The objective of the problem of routing for classification is to optimally route the vehicles and determine the optimal dwell time at each target so as to maximize the total discounted information gain while visiting every target at least once. In this paper, we make a simplifying assumption that the information gain is discounted exponentially by the revisit time; this assumption enables one to decouple the problem of routing with the problem of determining optimal dwell time at each target for a single vehicle problem. For the multi-vehicle problem, we provide a fast heuristic to obtain the allocation of targets to each vehicle and the corresponding dwell time.

math.OC↗

arXiv2020

Establishing Reliable Robot Behavior using Capability Analysis Tables

Robots are often so complex that one person may not know all the ins and outs of the system. Inheriting software and hardware infrastructure with limited documentation and/or practical robot experience presents a costly challenge for an engineer or researcher. The choice is to either re-build existing systems, or invest in learning the existing framework. No matter the choice, a reliable system which produces expected outcomes is necessary, and while rebuilding may at first appear easier than learning the system, future users will be faced with the same choice. This paper provides a method to allow for increased documentation of the robotic system, which in turn can be used to contribute in overall robot reliability. To do this we propose the identification of a robot's core behaviors for use in Capability Analysis Tables (CATs). CATs are a form of tabular documentation that connect the hardware and software inputs and outputs to the robot's core behaviors. Unlike existing methods, CATs are flexible, easy to build, and understandable by non-expert robot users. We demonstrate this documentation method with an experimental example using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

cs.RO↗