A Novel Blockchain-Driven Proof-of-Stake Model for Cooperative Navigation in Visual Homing Robotic Teams

Abstract

Navigation in unstructured, GPS-denied environments, such as forests and agricultural fields, poses persistent challenges for heterogeneous robotic teams. While visual homing and Wide Area Visual Navigation (WAVN) enable lightweight, map-free operation, their effectiveness in large-scale, decentralized settings can be constrained by the absence of a coordination mechanism that accounts for varying reliability across robots. This article examines the innovative combination of blockchain techniques with WAVN to tackle visual navigation issues in diverse mobile robots used in unstructured sectors like agriculture and forestry. It addresses GPS reliance, adapts to environmental shifts, and reduces computational burdens by integrating RoboStake, a novel blockchain Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism, into the WAVN system. This solution seeks to bolster cooperative navigation by assessing the reliability of each robot’s navigational input. With methods including a stake weight function, a PoS consensus score, and a navigability function, this strategy confronts the computational hurdles of coordinating robots and verifying data. Lastly, we showcase how the proposed approach upholds critical navigability features of the WAVN system and present results from scalable simulation experiments to highlight the improved efficiency achieved through enhanced cooperation.