Flocking of mobile robots by bounded feedback

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of flocking of mobile robots by bounded feedback. A control problem is formulated with the multiple goals: velocity consensus, collision avoidance, and cohesion maintenance. The flocking protocol is then obtained by means of control design. Particularly, a Lyapunov-like function is presented, the velocity control is designed to achieve coordination and linear speed consensus, and the steering control is designed for consensus on orientation. The convergence is verified via Barbalat's lemma. Simulation results with a group of mobile robots are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed flocking control.