Asynchronous dynamic multi-group formation for swarm robots

Abstract

This paper addresses the asynchronous dynamic formation problem for swarm robots based on multi-group shape transformation. Considering robot swarm as a whole will make achieving the adaptation to the environment very difficult. Decomposition of multi-robot system into smaller groups gives capability and flexibility in complex pattern transformation which remarkably increases environmental adjustability. Unlike existing methods in dynamic formation control of swarm robots which is limited to synchronous shape transformation of the whole system, and is causing unnecessary repositioning of some robots; the proposed method can deal with asynchronous shape transformation which leads to efficient dynamic formation control. The stability of the system is examined by introducing a Lyapunov-like function. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.