Development of the elements of a control system for a mobile agricultural robot operating in a group.

Multi-agent systems are actively used in agriculture. Sometimes, single robots are not capable of accomplishing a task (for example, the tasks requiring coordinated actions in several places) or for performing simple tasks in the required time (when tasks are to be accomplished in large areas). In this case, multi-agent systems are more efficient, flexible, and fault-proof than single robots. A group of relatively small robots does less harm to the environment than large tractors. Also, no excess chemicals and fertilizers are required. Finally, the use of groups of robots causes less soil panning due to the small weight of individual robots. This paper considers the issues of the development of the elements of the control system of a mobile agricultural robot enabling robot functioning in a group. We present the methods of planning the robot path on a plane, enabling the possibility of moving together with other robots, and we also propose the structure of the logical layer of controlling robots. We performed the simulation of the performance of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]