Distributed flocking control of mobile robots by bounded feedback

Abstract

Flocking control of multiple agents with their point-mass models has been extensively studied. However, flocking control of mobile robots with full dynamic models is challenging research due to nonhonolomic nature. This paper presents a novel approach to distributed flocking control of nonholonomic mobile robots by bounded feedback. The flocking control objectives include velocity consensus, collision avoidance, and cohesion maintenance among mobile robots. A flocking protocol which is based on the neighborhood information of mobile robots is constructed by means of control design. A Lyapunov-like function and graph theory are employed for convergence analysis. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed distributed flocking control scheme.