Planning Large-Scale Search and Rescue using Team of UAVs and Charging Stations

The energy limitation of robotic networks has hindered search and rescue missions. In this paper, we propose a mission planning method that overcomes the energy limitation by deploying static charging stations. Taking the mission objectives and constraints into consideration, the proposed method provides working robot trajectories and charging station locations together to optimize the overall mission performance. The energy efficient trajectories for working robots considers the priority area to facilitate the smart energy cycling. In addition, a geographic limitation is considered when finding the locations of the charging stations. Simulation results demonstrate the developed method by Monte Carlo method and Gazebo simulation environment. The demonstration video is available at https://youtu.be/0JWofUNTe7s.