Autonomous Decentralized Control for Formation of Multiple Mobile Robots Considering Ability of Robot

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to control multiple mobile robots in formation considering the ability of a robot using the "Leader-Following" strategy. There are three features of this study. First, a performance index that shows mobile robot ability is quantified. Specifically, maximum acceleration and maximum velocity of a robot are defined by maximum admissible rotation and maximum continuous torque of a motor. The performance index is quantified from arrival time on the destination using these parameters. Second, a new controller is proposed based on the performance index, so that robots can be controlled according to robot ability. Third, a compliance controller using a virtual repulsion is suggested in this paper, so that each robot can avoid collision. Finally, simulation and experiments are done in a real-time system using RT-Messenger. RT-Messenger allows robots to transmit information regarding their positions to each other in real time. These results shows the validity of the proposed method.