Swarm Robots Aggregation Formation Control Based on Social Potential Fields

Abstract

Social potential fields were combined with behavior-based control,which made swarm robots forming aggregation formation,avoiding the obstacles in unknown environment and reaching target area. Two kinds of thresholds were set for the purpose of alleviating the vibrations of robot on the equilibrium point and improving the speed for swarm robots to reaching the target area. Flexible social potential fields were proposed in order to improve the efficiency of avoiding obstacles. The individual robot autonomously generates formation control vector based on its local sensation,so the formation control strategy has excellent scalability. Simulation experiments indicate the feasibility and validity of the formation control strategy.