Abstract
We present a control framework for achieving encirclement of a target moving in 3D using a multi-robot system. Three variations of a basic control strategy are proposed for different versions of the encirclement problem, and their effectiveness is formally established. An extension ensuring maintenance of a safe inter-robot distance is also discussed. The proposed framework is fully decentralized and only requires local communication among robots; in particular, each robot locally estimates all the relevant global quantities. We validate the proposed strategy through simulations on kinematic point robots and quadrotor UAVs, as well as experiments on differential-drive wheeled mobile robots.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 245-265 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Autonomous Robots |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Distributed robot systems
- Encirclement
- Entrapment
- Escorting
- Motion control
- Multi-robot decentralized control