Abstract
This article describes a novel multi-robot formation control based on a switching technique that allows follower robots to maintain formation when the leader robot’s direction changes rapidly or unexpectedly. The formation pattern is determined using Virtual Robot’s Center of the multi-robot formation. To avoid collision, the formation of robots reformed in optimal size by estimating the distance between the robot and an obstacle in real time. When the leader robot suddenly changes its direction, waypoints of follower robots are switched and the formation is quickly reconstructed. This prevents follower robots from colliding with each other and reduces their radius of movement and allows them to follow the leader robot at higher speed. The proposed method which is inherently a flexible control of multi-robot formation guarantees collision avoidance and prevents sudden changes in waypoints of the system by gradually changing its size. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated via simulation and experimental results.
Highlights
Multi-robot navigation in formation has received extensive attention in the past and been employed for various tasks, such as surveillance, inspection, factory automation, and logistics
We propose a new formation maintenance method of mobile robots and the movement method for detection and avoidance of fixed obstacles
When the leader robot tracks a predetermined path, two follower robots navigate in formation to follow the leader robot using the variable Virtual Robot’s Center (VRc)
Summary
Multi-robot navigation in formation has received extensive attention in the past and been employed for various tasks, such as surveillance, inspection, factory automation, and logistics. When the leader robot suddenly changes its direction, follower robots switch their positions and effectively rapidly form a multi-robot formation in real time. When the robots set a formation, the position of a follower robot can be expressed by the coordinates of VRc and the distances b and c from the coordinates.
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