Abstract
In this paper we describe a novel decentralized control strategy to realize formations of mobile robots. We first describe how to design artificial potential fields to obtain a formation with the shape of a regular polygon. We provide a formal proof of the asymptotic stability of the system, based on the definition of a proper Lyapunov function. We also prove that our control strategy is not affected by the problem of local minima. Then, we exploit a bijective coordinate transformation to deform the polygonal formation, thus obtaining a completely arbitrarily shaped formation. Simulations and experimental tests are provided to validate the control strategy.
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Sabattini, L., Secchi, C. & Fantuzzi, C. Arbitrarily shaped formations of mobile robots: artificial potential fields and coordinate transformation. Auton Robot 30, 385–397 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-011-9225-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-011-9225-4