GeoDesic-VPC: Spatial partitioning for multi-robot coverage problem

In this paper, we address a problem of area coverage using multiple cooperating robots using a “partition and cover" approach, where the area of interest is decomposed into as many cells as the robots, and each robot is assigned the task of covering a cell. While the most partitioning approaches used in the literature in the context of a robotic coverage problem may result in topologically disconnected cells in the presence of obstacles leading to incomplete coverage, we propose to use geodesic distance-based generalization of the Voronoi partition, ensuring that each cell that is allotted for a robot for coverage is a topologically connected region, and hence, achieving a complete coverage. The proposed multi-robot coverage strategy is demonstrated with simulation in MATLAB and V-rep simulator, using two single-robot coverage algorithms reported in the literature, namely boustrophedon decomposition-based coverage and spanning tree-based coverage algorithms.