Nonholonomic mobile swarm robots hunting in unknown dynamic environments

Abstract

A self-organizing method based on a simplified virtual-force model is proposed for nonholonomic mobile swarm robots hunting in unknown dynamic environment.First,the motion equations of individual robots are given;then the motion models for the hunting target and dynamic obstacles in unknown dynamic environment are presented.Through the decomposition of hunting behavior under complicated environments,a simplified virtual-force model is formed.Based on the virtual-force model,the control method is designed for swarm robots following motions of the hunting target;after that,the stability of the hunting system is analyzed and the control parameter ranges are given.Simulation results for different situations demonstrate that the proposed hunting method can make the group of robots maintain a good hunting formation in unknown dynamic obstacle environments and has good performance of obstacle avoidance and flexibility.Finally,some advantages of this hunting method are presented,compared with the hunting method based on loose-preference rule.