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About

About

Born at Porto, Portugal, April  6, 1973, received the M.Sc.in Electrical and Computer Engineering on Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, Portugal in 1999. He obtained a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering on Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto in the area of Control and Robotics, with the thesis “Planning Cooperative tasks and trajectories in Multiple Robots” in 2011. Presently he is a Professor at Computers and Electrical Engineering Department of the Oporto University. He is also a researcher in Robotic and Intelligent Systems of the INESC-TEC (Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto, Portugal). His research interests are in the ï¬�eld of robotics and automation: path planning, obstacle avoidance, simulation, navigation, manipulator, mobile manipulators. 

Interest
Topics
Details

Details

  • Name

    Pedro Gomes Costa
  • Role

    Senior Researcher
  • Since

    01st June 2009
014
Publications

2025

Efficient multi-robot path planning in real environments: a centralized coordination system

Authors
Matos, DM; Costa, P; Sobreira, H; Valente, A; Lima, J;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS AND APPLICATIONS

Abstract
With the increasing adoption of mobile robots for transporting components across several locations in industries, congestion problems appear if the movement of these robots is not correctly planned. This paper introduces a fleet management system where a central agent coordinates, plans, and supervises the fleet, mitigating the risk of deadlocks and addressing issues related to delays, deviations between the planned paths and reality, and delays in communication. The system uses the TEA* graph-based path planning algorithm to plan the paths of each agent. In conjunction with the TEA* algorithm, the concepts of supervision and graph-based environment representation are introduced. The system is based on ROS framework and allows each robot to maintain its autonomy, particularly in control and localization, while aligning its path with the plan from the central agent. The effectiveness of the proposed fleet manager is demonstrated in a real scenario where robots operate on a shop floor, showing its successful implementation.

2025

Collaborative fault tolerance for cyber-physical systems: The detection stage

Authors
Piardi, L; de Oliveira, AS; Costa, P; Leitao, P;

Publication
COMPUTERS IN INDUSTRY

Abstract
In the era of Industry 4.0, fault tolerance is essential for maintaining the robustness and resilience of industrial systems facing unforeseen or undesirable disturbances. Current methodologies for fault tolerance stages namely, detection, diagnosis, and recovery, do not correspond with the accelerated technological evolution pace over the past two decades. Driven by the advent of digital technologies such as Internet of Things, cloud and edge computing, and artificial intelligence, associated with enhanced computational processing and communication capabilities, local or monolithic centralized fault tolerance methodologies are out of sync with contemporary and future systems. Consequently, these methodologies are limited in achieving the maximum benefits enabled by the integration of these technologies, such as accuracy and performance improvements. Accordingly, in this paper, a collaborative fault tolerance methodology for cyber-physical systems, named Collaborative Fault * (CF*), is proposed. The proposed methodology takes advantage of the inherent data analysis and communication capabilities of cyber-physical components. The proposed methodology is based on multi-agent system principles, where key components are self-fault tolerant, and adopts collaborative and distributed intelligence behavior when necessary to improve its fault tolerance capabilities. Experiments were conducted focusing on the fault detection stage for temperature and humidity sensors in warehouse racks. The experimental results confirmed the accuracy and performance improvements under CF* compared with the local methodology and competitiveness when compared with a centralized approach.

2025

Collaborative Fault Tolerance for Cyber-Physical Systems: The Diagnosis Stage

Authors
Piardi, L; Costa, P; De Oliveira, AS; Leitão, P;

Publication
IEEE Access

Abstract
The reliability and robustness of cyber-physical systems (CPS) are critical aspects of the current industrial landscape. The high level of autonomous and distributed components associated with a large number of devices makes CPS prone to faults. Despite their importance and benefits, traditional fault tolerance methodologies, namely local and/or centralized, often overlook the potential benefits of collaboration between cyber-physical components. This paper introduces a collaborative fault diagnosis methodology for CPS, integrating self-fault diagnosis capabilities in agents and leveraging collaborative behavior to enhance fault diagnosis. The contribution of this paper relay in propose a methodology for fault diagnosis for CPS, based on multi-agent system (MAS) technology as a backbone of infra-structure, highlighting the components, agent behavior, functionalities, and interaction protocols, to explore the benefits of communication and collaboration between agents. The proposed methodology enhance the accuracy of fault diagnosis when compared with local approach. A case study was conducted in a laboratory-scale warehouse, focusing on diagnosing drift, bias, and precision faults in temperature and humidity sensors. Experimental results reveal that the collaborative methodology significantly outperforms the local approach in fault diagnosis, as evidenced by performance improvements in diagnosis classification. The statistical significance of these results was validated using the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test for paired samples. © 2013 IEEE.

2025

Parallel Path Planning for Multi-Robot Coordination

Authors
Ribeiro, J; Brilhante, M; Matos, DM; Silva, CA; Sobreira, H; Costa, P;

Publication
2025 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SYSTEMS AND COMPETITIONS, ICARSC

Abstract
Multi-robot coordination aims to synchronize robots for optimized, collision-free paths in shared environments, addressing task allocation, collision avoidance, and path planning challenges. The Time Enhanced A* (TEA*) algorithm addresses multi-robot pathfinding offering a centralized and sequential approach. However, its sequential nature can lead to order-dependent variability in solutions. This study enhances TEA* through multi-threading, using thread pooling and parallelization techniques via OpenMP, and a sensitivity analysis enabling parallel exploration of robot-solving orders to improve robustness and the likelihood of finding efficient, feasible paths in complex environments. The results show that this approach improved coordination efficiency, reducing replanning needs and simulation time. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis assesses TEA*'s scalability across various graph sizes and number of robots, providing insights into how these factors influence the efficiency and performance of the algorithm.

2025

Enhancing Mobile Robot Navigation: A Graph Decomposition Submodule for TEA*

Authors
Cardoso, F; Matos, DM; Brilhante, M; Costa, P; Sobreira, E; Silva, C;

Publication
2025 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SYSTEMS AND COMPETITIONS, ICARSC

Abstract
Rising industrial complexity demands efficient mobile robots to drive automation and productivity. Effective navigation relies on perception, localization, mapping, path planning, and motion control, with path planning being key. The Time Enhanced A* (TEA*) algorithm extends A* by adding time as a dimension to resolve temporal conflicts in multi-robot coordination. However, inconsistencies in edge lengths within the graph can hinder optimal path calculation. To address this, a Graph Decomposition submodule was developed to standardize edge lengths and temporal costs. Integrated into a ROS-based fleet coordination system, this approach significantly reduces execution time and improves coordination capacity.

Supervised
thesis

2023

Web-based user interface development for multiple robots interaction

Author
João Francisco Nogueira Cerqueira

Institution
UP-FEUP

2023

Gestão e Controlo de um Robô Móvel através do Protocolo VDA5050

Author
Marina Rodrigues Brilhante

Institution
UP-FEUP

2023

OMRON Mobile Robot ROS-based Control and Management

Author
Miguel Cardoso Félix

Institution
UP-FEUP

2023

Path Planning for Different Types of Robots in Docking and Obstacle Avoidance

Author
Miguel Pinheiro Tavares

Institution
UP-FEUP

2023

An intelligent approach to fault tolerance in cyber physical systems

Author
Luis Fernando Piardi

Institution
UP-FEUP