Formation splitting and merging

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to swarm split and rejoin maneuvers of a system of multi-robots formations. A post split formation is split into low-degree sub-swarms when the swarm encounters an obstacle. The sub-swarms reestablish links with other sub-swarms and converge into its pre-split formation after avoiding collisions with the obstacles. The leader-follower control strategy is used for maintaining formation shape in the sub-swarms. A set of artificial potential field functions is proposed for avoiding inter-robot, inter-formation and obstacle collisions and attraction to their designated targets. The Direct Method of Lyapunov is then used to establish stability of the given system. The effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear acceleration control laws is demonstrated through a computer simulation.