Formation control of robotic swarms based on sonar sensing

Abstract

Because of the simpleness, robustness and accuracy, sonar sensing has wide applications in navigation, target tracking and distance estimation for both civilian and defence use. This paper presents the applications of sonar sensors in the area of shape maintenance of multi-robot systems moving in formation. Each robot is equipped with simple sonar sensors and the multirobot systems are required to move from an arbitrary initial position to an arbitrary final position without deforming the formation shape.