Mobile robots are becoming increasingly common in our domestic and professional environments, from small autonomous vacuum cleaners, such as the iRobot Roomba, and lawnmowers, such as the Husqvarna Automower, to more sophisticated autonomous security and service robots.

This paper explores robot communication. The authors are not concerned about the security or the safety involved in the mobile communication; rather, they are focused on the capacity and power gains. They propose using collaborative relaying strategies for autonomic management, and explore the potential for collaborative mobile communications using IEEE 802.11 (b, n and g).

All of the concepts are briefly explained before use, making the paper easy to read and understand; it is a useful reference on communication for mobile robots, especially the comparison of 802.11 b/n/g. The paper does not address the use of 802.11p, the new protocol used in vehicular networks and ground vehicle communication.

I found the paper interesting because it shows that location, traffic characteristics, and low-level link information are very important in the use and performance of the relay. In addition, the authors show that cooperative relaying is not always a good choice.