Dynamic anchor selection for swarm localization

A method comprising:

• collecting, by at least one sensor, localization information indicating a location of a first robotic agent of a plurality of robotic agents;
• causing the first robotic agent to move and to utilize the at least one sensor and a first group of robotic agents of the plurality of robotic agents to determine the location of the first robotic agent during a first period of time in which the first robotic agent is not selected as an anchor reference point;
• causing the first robotic agent to remain stationary during a second period of time in which the first robotic agent is selected as an anchor reference point to assist other robotic agents of the plurality of robotic agents in location determination;
• generating a localization confidence metric indicating a certainty of the determined location of the first robotic agent;
• and
• participating in selection of the first group of robotic agents to serve as anchor reference points during the first period of time, the participating comprising executing an optimization function taking into account localization confidence metrics of robotic agents and current locations of robotic agents with respect to a spatial distribution of the plurality of robotic agents to generate an indication of robotic agents suitable to serve as anchor reference points for the first period of time.

At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed by a machine to cause the machine to:

• collect, by at least one sensor, localization information indicating a location of a first robotic agent of a plurality of robotic agents;
• cause the first robotic agent to move and to utilize the at least one sensor and a first group of robotic agents of the plurality of robotic agents to determine the location of the first robotic agent during a first period of time in which the first robotic agent is not selected as an anchor reference point;
• cause the first robotic agent to remain stationary during a second period of time in which the first robotic agent is selected as an anchor reference point to assist other robotic agents of the plurality of robotic agents in location determination;
• generate a localization confidence metric indicating a certainty of the determined location of the first robotic agent;
• and
• participate in selection of the first group of robotic agents to serve as anchor reference points during the first period of time, the participating comprising executing an optimization function taking into account localization confidence metrics of robotic agents and current locations of robotic agents with respect to a spatial distribution of the plurality of robotic agents to generate an indication of robotic agents suitable to serve as anchor reference points for the first period of time.