Distributed formation stabilization for mobile agents using virtual tensegrity structures

This paper investigates the distributed formation control problem for a group of mobile Euler-Lagrange agents to achieve global stabilization by using virtual tensegrity structures. Firstly, a systematic approach to design tensegrity frameworks is elaborately explained to confine the interaction relationships between agents, which allows us to obtain globally rigid frameworks. Then, based on virtual tensegrity frameworks, distributed control strategies are developed such that the mobile agents converge to the desired formation globally. The theoretical analysis is further validated through simulations.

[1]  Manfredi Maggiore,et al.  Necessary and sufficient graphical conditions for formation control of unicycles , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[2]  Jorge Cortes,et al.  Distributed Control of Robotic Networks: A Mathematical Approach to Motion Coordination Algorithms , 2009 .

[3]  Richard M. Murray,et al.  Information flow and cooperative control of vehicle formations , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[4]  Lee-Ad Gottlieb,et al.  Matrix Sparsification and the Sparse Null Space Problem , 2010, Algorithmica.

[5]  J. Hendrickx,et al.  Rigid graph control architectures for autonomous formations , 2008, IEEE Control Systems.

[6]  Robert Connelly,et al.  Iterative Universal Rigidity , 2015, Discret. Comput. Geom..

[7]  Brian D. O. Anderson,et al.  Formation control using range-only measurements , 2011, Autom..

[8]  Wei Ren,et al.  Information consensus in multivehicle cooperative control , 2007, IEEE Control Systems.

[9]  Brian D. O. Anderson,et al.  Controlling a triangular formation of mobile autonomous agents , 2007, 2007 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

[10]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Tensegrity Models and Shape Control of Vehicle Formations , 2009, 0902.3710.

[11]  Hao Fang,et al.  Distributed observer-based coordination for multiple Lagrangian systems using only position measurements , 2014 .

[12]  Brian D. O. Anderson,et al.  Control of acyclic formations of mobile autonomous agents , 2008, 2008 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

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

[14]  Jie Huang,et al.  Distributed tracking for networked Euler-Lagrange systems without velocity measurements , 2014 .

[15]  A. Y. Alfakih,et al.  On affine motions and universal rigidity of tensegrity frameworks , 2013 .

[16]  A. Pothen.  Sparse null bases and marriage theorems , 1984 .

[17]  Hyo-Sung Ahn,et al.  Formation Control of Mobile Agents Based on Distributed Position Estimation , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

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

[19]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Collective Motion, Sensor Networks, and Ocean Sampling , 2007, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[20]  Wasif Naeem,et al.  Dynamic Tensegrity Based Cooperative Control of Uninhabited Vehicles , 2012 .

[21]  Jorge Cortés,et al.  Global and robust formation-shape stabilization of relative sensing networks , 2009, Autom..

[22]  Florian Dörfler,et al.  Geometric Analysis of the Formation Problem for Autonomous Robots , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[23]  J. Gilbert.  Computing a sparse basis for the null space , 1987 .

[24]  M. Thorpe,et al.  Rigidity theory and applications , 2002 .

[25]  Randal W. Beard,et al.  Distributed Consensus in Multi-vehicle Cooperative Control - Theory and Applications , 2007, Communications and Control Engineering.

[26]  Yu-Ping Tian,et al.  Globally asymptotically stable formation control of three agents , 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 American Control Conference.

[27]  Robert Connelly,et al.  TENSEGRITY STRUCTURES: WHY ARE THEY STABLE? , 2002 .

[28]  Lee-Ad Gottlieb,et al.  Matrix Sparsification and the Sparse Null Space Problem , 2010, APPROX-RANDOM.

[29]  Guangming Xie,et al.  Forming Circle Formations of Anonymous Mobile Agents With Order Preservation , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[30]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Formation shape and orientation control using projected collinear tensegrity structures , 2009, 2009 American Control Conference.

[31]  Robert Connelly,et al.  Tensegrities and Global Rigidity , 2013 .