A decentralized formation building algorithm with obstacle avoidance for multi-robot systems

We consider the problem of formation building with obstacle avoidance for a group of mobile robots. We propose a biologically inspired decentralized motion coordination control algorithm so that the robots eventually move in a given geometric pattern from any initial position while avoiding the obstacles on their routes. The robots are described by the standard kinematics equations with hard constraints on their linear and angular velocities. Furthermore, there is no leader in the team and each robot applies the decentralized control algorithm using the consensus variables rule based on the local information. Moreover, an obstacle avoidance technique based on the information from the range sensors is used. The performance of the proposed control algorithm is confirmed with computer simulations.

[1]  Farzaneh Abdollahi,et al.  A Decentralized Cooperative Control Scheme With Obstacle Avoidance for a Team of Mobile Robots , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[2]  Arye Nehorai,et al.  Design of chemical sensor arrays for monitoring disposal sites on the ocean floor , 1998 .

[3]  Zhong-Ping Jiang,et al.  Distributed formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots without global position measurements , 2013, Autom..

[4]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  A biologically inspired method for robot navigation in a cluttered environment , 2009, Robotica.

[5]  Maarouf Saad,et al.  Nonlinear coordination control for a group of mobile robots using a virtual structure , 2011 .

[6]  Yu-Ping Tian,et al.  Minimally rigid formations control for multiple nonholonomic mobile agents , 2012, Proceedings of the 31st Chinese Control Conference.

[7]  Mireille E. Broucke,et al.  Stabilisation of infinitesimally rigid formations of multi-robot networks , 2009, Int. J. Control.

[8]  A. Matveev,et al.  Algorithms for collision-free navigation of mobile robots in complex cluttered environments: a survey , 2014, Robotica.

[9]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  Seeking a path through the crowd: Robot navigation in unknown dynamic environments with moving obstacles based on an integrated environment representation , 2014, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[10]  Dongkyoung Chwa,et al.  Hierarchical Formation Control Based on a Vector Field Method for Wheeled Mobile Robots , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[11]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  Decentralized Navigation of Groups of Wheeled Mobile Robots With Limited Communication , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[12]  Homayoun Najjaran,et al.  An unscented model predictive control approach to the formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[13]  Wenjie Dong,et al.  Robust Formation Control of Multiple Wheeled Mobile Robots , 2011, J. Intell. Robotic Syst..

[14]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  A simple biologically inspired algorithm for collision-free navigation of a unicycle-like robot in dynamic environments with moving obstacles , 2013, Robotica.

[15]  Ming Cao,et al.  Adaptive leader-follower formation control for autonomous mobile robots , 2010, Proceedings of the 2010 American Control Conference.

[16]  Jie Lin,et al.  Coordination of groups of mobile autonomous agents using nearest neighbor rules , 2003, IEEE Trans. Autom. Control..

[17]  Ricardo O. Carelli,et al.  Dynamic model based formation control and obstacle avoidance of multi-robot systems , 2008, Robotica.

[18]  Ho-Hoon Lee,et al.  Decentralized formation control and obstacle avoidance for multiple robots with nonholonomic constraints , 2006, 2006 American Control Conference.

[19]  R. Cassinis,et al.  Strategies for navigation of robot swarms to be used in landmines detection , 1999, 1999 Third European Workshop on Advanced Mobile Robots (Eurobot'99). Proceedings (Cat. No.99EX355).

[20]  Vicsek,et al.  Novel type of phase transition in a system of self-driven particles. , 1995, Physical review letters.

[21]  Andrea Gasparri,et al.  Distributed Control of Multirobot Systems With Global Connectivity Maintenance , 2013, IEEE Trans. Robotics.

[22]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  Decentralized control for mobile robotic sensor network self-deployment: barrier and sweep coverage problems , 2011, Robotica.

[23]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  Real-time navigation of mobile robots in problems of border patrolling and avoiding collisions with moving and deforming obstacles , 2012, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[24]  Domenico Prattichizzo,et al.  On a Class of Hierarchical Formations of Unicycles and Their Internal Dynamics , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[25]  Hung T. Nguyen,et al.  A method for decentralized formation building for unicycle-like mobile robots , 2013, 2013 9th Asian Control Conference (ASCC).

[26]  Yongji Wang,et al.  Coordinated Collective Motion of Groups of Autonomous Mobile Robots with Directed Interconnected Topology , 2008, J. Intell. Robotic Syst..

[27]  Michael Defoort,et al.  Sliding-Mode Formation Control for Cooperative Autonomous Mobile Robots , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[28]  Kristin Ytterstad Pettersen,et al.  Straight line path following for formations of underactuated underwater vehicles , 2007, 2007 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

[29]  Anish Arora,et al.  Barrier coverage with wireless sensors , 2005, MobiCom '05.

[30]  Andrey V. Savkin,et al.  The problem of optimal robust Kalman state estimation via limited capacity digital communication channels , 2005, Syst. Control. Lett..

[31]  Hung T. Nguyen,et al.  Distributed formation building algorithms for groups of wheeled mobile robots , 2016, Robotics Auton. Syst..