Distributed formation control with obstacle and collision avoidance for humanoid robot

Abstract

Formation control has become a popular research topic in recent years. A common challenge in formation control is ensuring that robots can avoid obstacles and maintain a safe distance from one another to prevent collisions while forming a formation. In this research, a distributed formation control approach for a multi-robot system (MRS) with obstacle and collision avoidance is presented. The distributed formation control architecture is based on a consensus algorithm and consists of four layers: consensus tracking, consensus-based formation control, behavior, and physical robot layers. The system was implemented and evaluated through both simulations and experiments. Humanoid robots were used as the platform for these implementations. The result of the simulations and experiments show that the distributed formation control system successfully guided the robots into desired formation while also avoiding obstacles and preventing collisions with other robots.