Automatic Navigation of Microswarms for Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance

Abstract

Control and navigation of microrobotic swarms have drawn extensive attention recently. Avoiding dynamic obstacles using swarms is one of the major challenges that still remain unsolved. In this work, we develop a control strategy to navigate microrobotic swarms to targeted positions while avoiding dynamic obstacles. We first propose a criterion to evaluate the real-time locomotion efficiency during dynamic obstacle avoidance, i.e., the swarm moving direction and the distance between the swarm and the target. Subsequently, a hierarchical radar with three functional boundaries (detection, safety, and prediction circle) is designed for swarms. The optimal moving direction of the swarm with the existence of dynamic obstacles is selected based on the three circles. The effectiveness of the algorithm is validated by simulations and experiments. Using the proposed strategy, the swarm is capable of avoiding multiple moving obstacles and reaching the predefined target. Finally, to show the compatibility of the proposed control method, the swarm is deployed in a micromaze with different dynamic obstacles, and the results also validate the effectiveness of the strategy.