Multi-robot architecture based on hybridized blockchain model

Abstract

Multi-robot systems (MRS) are groups of robots that coordinate to complete a given task. In communication-based systems, the integrity of the information shared between robots becomes highly important as any security threat due to a malicious node in the system can cause a chain reaction to compromise the entire system. This paper proposes a hybridized blockchain model-based architecture (HBMA) built on robot operating system (ROS) which offers a semi-decentralized environment into which any communication-based algorithm can be plugged in. A security monitoring system is also provided with the architecture that identifies and shuts down malicious robots while also sending out alerts about the threat. This architecture is used to create secured, coupled approaches to localization of multi-robots and multi-robot path planning. This approach is validated on both physical robots and simulations run on ROS.