Distributed Obstacle and Multi-Robot Collision Avoidance in Uncertain Environments
It addresses multi-robot coordination in uncertain settings, which is incremental as it builds on existing leader-follower and formation control methods.
This paper tackled distributed control for heterogeneous mobile robots in unknown environments, achieving obstacle and collision avoidance with a novel Negative-Imaginary formation tracking approach and dynamic network topology, validated through simulations and indoor experiments.
This paper tackles the distributed leader-follower (L-F) control problem for heterogeneous mobile robots in unknown environments requiring obstacle avoidance, inter-robot collision avoidance, and reliable robot communications. To prevent an inter-robot collision, we employ a virtual propulsive force between robots. For obstacle avoidance, we present a novel distributed Negative-Imaginary (NI) variant formation tracking control approach and a dynamic network topology methodology which allows the formation to change its shape and the robot to switch their roles. In the case of communication or sensor loss, a UAV, controlled by a Strictly-Negative-Imaginary (SNI) controller with good wind resistance characteristics, is utilized to track the position of the UGV formation using its camera. Simulations and indoor experiments have been conducted to validate the proposed methods.