A Fuzzy Leader-Follower Approach to Formation Control of Multiple Mobile Robots

Abstract

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based system for formation control of multiple mobile robots. Two main problems of formation control are investigated - maintaining correct formation position and inter-formation collision avoidance. A leader-follower approach with minimal communication between robots is presented here. Separate fuzzy logic controllers are developed for formation position control and internal collision avoidance with a higher level fuzzy coordinator used to fuse their outputs. A major issue in formation control is the presence of uncertainties in the real world, in the form of noisy sensor data and delay in leader position transmission. Noise is added to the simulated data to prove that the system is capable of tolerating such disturbance. The system has the ability to create any desired geometrical formation shape