Self-Organised Collision-Free Flocking Mechanism in Heterogeneous Robot Swarms

Ban, Zhe; Hu, Junyan; Lennox, Barry; Arvin, Farshad

Abstract

Flocking is a social animals’ common behaviour observed in nature. It has a great potential for real-world applications such as exploration in agri-robotics using low-cost robotic solutions. In this paper, an extended model of a self-organised flocking mechanism using heterogeneous swarm system is proposed. The proposed model for swarm robotic systems is a combination of a collective motion mechanism with obstacle avoidance functions, which ensures a collision-free flocking trajectory for the followers. An optimal control model for the leader is also developed to steer the swarm to a desired goal location. Compared to the conventional methods, by using the proposed model, the swarm network has less requirement for power and storage. The feasibility of the proposed self-organised flocking algorithm is validated by realistic robotic simulation software.

Citation

Ban, Z., Hu, J., Lennox, B., & Arvin, F. (2021). Self-Organised Collision-Free Flocking Mechanism in Heterogeneous Robot Swarms. Mobile Networks and Applications, 26(6), 2461–2471. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-021-01785-7

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 10, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jul 15, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Deposit Date: May 27, 2022
• Journal: Mobile Networks and Applications
• Print ISSN: 1383-469X
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-8153
• Publisher: Springer
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 2461–2471
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-021-01785-7
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1205450