Collision Avoidance Control for Distributed Multi-Robot Systems Using Collision Cones and CBF-Based Constraints

Abstract

Collision avoidance with moving obstacles is a fundamental problem for multi-robot systems. This paper presents a new collision avoidance control method involving moving obstacles without solving a numerical optimization problem. When the current relative velocity between a robot and a moving obstacle is close to or within the collision cone, the heading angle of a robot is modified such that the direction of the relative velocity with a moving obstacle moves away from the collision cone. Constraints on the heading angular velocity of robots based on a control barrier function are utilized to prevent the relative velocity with obstacles from entering the collision cone. This is the main distinction from previous methods based on collision cones. Furthermore, collision avoidance is verified by validating position-based constraints on the computed control input. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulations and experiments.