Interaction dynamics of multiple autonomous mobile robots in bounded spatial domains

摘要

Interaction dynamics of multiple autonomous mobile robots in bounded spatial domains is studied in the spirit of the many-body problem in classical physics. Here, the effective spatial domain of each robot is taken to be a spherical ball about its centre of mass. It is assumed that each robot has a specified cone of visibility such that interaction with other robots, obstacles or the domain boundary takes place only when they enter its visibility cone. Based on a particle model for the robots, a collision-avoidance strategy for robot and domain-boundary interaction is derived. This strategy is combined with homing, robot-robot and robot-obstacle collision-avoidance strategies to form an overall navigation strategy in bounded spatial domains. The local dynamic interaction of the robot with the domain boundary is studied analytically. The global dynamic behaviour of multiple robots with the proposed navigation strategy inside bounded spatial domains is studied by means of computer simulation.