A Prototyping Framework for Distributed Control of Multi-Robot Systems
For researchers in multi-robot systems, this framework provides an accessible tool to bridge theoretical distributed algorithms and practical testing without requiring extensive hardware.
The paper presents a prototyping framework for distributed control of multi-robot systems that emulates distributed optimization algorithms on a single computer using the SPMD paradigm. Demonstrated on a four-quadrotor position-swapping task, the framework enables low-cost validation across simulation and hardware, with computational time and trajectory comparisons.
This paper presents a prototyping framework for distributed control of multi-robot systems, aimed at bridging theory and practical testing of distributed optimization algorithms. Using the Single Program, Multiple Data (SPMD) paradigm, the framework emulates distributed control on a single computer, with each core running the same algorithm using local states and neighbour-to-neighbour communication. We demonstrate the framework on a four-quadrotor position-swapping task using a non-cooperative game-theoretic distributed algorithm. Computational time and trajectory data are compared across the supported dynamics levels: a point-mass model, a high-fidelity quadrotor model, and an experimental hardware testbed using Crazyflie quadcopters. The results show that the framework provides a low-cost and accessible approach for validating distributed algorithms.