Target tracking and obstacle avoidance for multi-agent systems

This paper considers the problems of target tracking and obstacle avoidance for multi-agent systems. To solve the problem that multiple agents cannot effectively track the target while avoiding obstacle in dynamic environment, a novel control algorithm based on potential function and behavior rules is proposed. Meanwhile, the interactions among agents are also considered. According to the state whether an agent is within the area of its neighbors' influence, two kinds of potential functions are presented. Meanwhile, the distributed control input of each agent is determined by relative velocities as well as relative positions among agents, target and obstacle. The maximum linear speed of the agents is also discussed. Finally, simulation studies are given to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.     

采用Kinect的移动机器人目标跟踪与避障

为实现移动机器人在目标跟踪的同时进行避障,采用Kinect代替传统的测距雷达和摄像机.针对Kinect在使用中存在盲区和噪声的问题,提出一种基于统计的局部地图更新方法,利用动态更新的局部地图保存可能影响机器人运动的障碍物信息,并通过统计信息来消除测距噪声的影响,确保障碍物信息的有效性.同时使用增加安全区域的人工势场法去除对移动机器人运动无干扰的障碍物信息,改善了传统人工势场法通过狭窄通道的能力.在差动驱动移动机器人的实验证实了此系统能够很好地完成跟踪与避障任务,结果表明,使用Kinect可以代替传统测距传感器.     

Multi-agent consensus algorithm with obstacle avoidance via optimal control approach

Multi-agent consensus problem in an obstacle-laden environment is addressed in this study. A novel optimal control approach is proposed for the multi-agent system to reach consensus as well as avoid obstacles with a reasonable control effort. An innovative nonquadratic penalty function is constructed to achieve obstacle avoidance capability from an inverse optimal control perspective. The asymptotic stability and optimality of the consensus algorithm are proven. In addition, the optimal control law only requires local information from the communication topology to guarantee the proposed behaviour, rather than all agents’ information. The consensus and obstacle avoidance are validated through various simulations.     

车辆避障驾驶控制方法研究

受机器人基于人工势场的路径控制方法的启发,在吴镜开等提出方法的基础上,提出了车辆避障控制机制。定义了基于停车视距的车辆行驶动态目标位置;依据人工势场建模原理构建道路和障碍物势场;为了平滑车辆行驶路线,采用了贝塞尔（Bezier）曲线车辆轨迹拟合的方法;针对车辆系统是典型的非完整控制系统,将车辆运动学模型转换为链式系统模型,实现相对简化系统控制设计目的。仿真控制实验说明这种方法对车辆避障控制具有较好的轨迹跟踪效果和全局稳定性。     

Optimal consensus algorithm integrated with obstacle avoidance

This article proposes a new consensus algorithm for the networked single-integrator systems in an obstacle-laden environment. A novel optimal control approach is utilised to achieve not only multi-agent consensus but also obstacle avoidance capability with minimised control efforts. Three cost functional components are defined to fulfil the respective tasks. In particular, an innovative nonquadratic obstacle avoidance cost function is constructed from an inverse optimal control perspective. The other two components are designed to ensure consensus and constrain the control effort. The asymptotic stability and optimality are proven. In addition, the distributed and analytical optimal control law only requires local information based on the communication topology to guarantee the proposed behaviours, rather than all agents’ information. The consensus and obstacle avoidance are validated through simulations.     

双轮移动机器人安全目标追踪与自动避障算法

设计了双轮移动机器人安全目标追踪算法和双回路的追踪与避障控制方案.内层控制回路是目标追踪的控制律,用来指导机器人追踪到指定目标并保持一定的安全距离,而且兼顾了机器人在运行速度上的限制和追踪的时间效率,其控制的渐近稳定性用Lyapunov函数法进行了证明.当遇到障碍物时,外层控制回路根据超声传感器的信息和阻抗控制的概念产生阻抗虚拟力,将期望目标调整到虚拟位置,使机器人能够自动转向以避开障碍物.仿真研究和实验结果证明了追踪算法的有效性和避障方法的可行性.     

Distributed dynamic matrix control with constrained optimization for collision and obstacle avoidance of simulated multiple quadcopters

A system of fast moving quadcopters has a high risk of collisions with neighboring quadcopters or obstacles. The objective of this work is to develop a control strategy for collision and obstacle avoidance of multiple quadcopters. In this paper, the problem of distributed dynamic matrix control (DMC) for collision avoidance among a team of multiple quadcopters attempting to reach consensus in the horizontal plane and yaw direction ( $x,y$, and $\psi$) is investigated. Violations of a predetermined safety radius generates output constraints on the DMC optimization function, which has not been dealt with in the literature. Different from past works, the proposed strategy can perform collision avoidance in the $x$, $y$, and $z$-directions. In addition, logarithmic barrier functions are implemented as input rate constraints on the control actions. Extensive simulation studies for a team of quadcopters illustrate promising results of the proposed control strategy and case variations. In addition, DMC parameter effects on the system performance are studied, and a successful study for obstacle avoidance is presented.     

输入饱和约束下多智能体的有限时间一致

为解决多智能体系统在有限时间跟踪控制过程中受输入饱和影响的问题,本文研究了输入饱和约束下的二阶线性多智能体系统的有限时间一致和跟踪控制.首先在无向通信拓扑下,利用齐次函数,设计了基于单饱和函数的有限时间一致和跟踪控制器.然后,应用李雅普诺夫稳定性理论和代数图论等方法证明了控制算法的稳定性.最后,给出了能够使多智能体系统实现有限时间一致和跟踪的充分条件.仿真结果验证了当系统存在输入饱和约束时,控制器能使多智能体在有限时间内完成跟踪任务.     

多智能体专家型策略梯度的目标跟踪与清障

为适应复杂环境下目标跟踪机器人高效运动规划需求,本文提出一种基于多智能体强化学习的专家型策略梯度(ML-DDPG) 方法。为此首先构建了基于最小化任务单元的分布式多Actor-Critic网络架构;随后针对机器人主动障碍清除和目标跟踪任务建立了强化学习运动学模型和视觉样本预处理机制,由此提出一种专家型策略引导的最优目标价值估计方法;进一步通过并行化训练与集中式经验共享,提升了算法的训练效率;最后在不同任务环境下测试了ML-DDPG 算法的目标跟踪与清障性能表现,和其它算法对比验证了其在陌生环境中良好的迁移与泛化能力。     

A real-time planning algorithm for obstacle avoidance of redundant robots

A computationally efficient, obstacle avoidance algorithm for redundant robots is presented in this paper. This algorithm incorporates the neural networks and pseudodistance function D _p in the framework of resolved motion rate control. Thus, it is well suited for real-time implementation. Robot arm kinematic control is carried out by the Hopfield network. The connection weights of the network can be determined from the current value of Jacobian matrix at each sampling time, and joint velocity commands can be generated from the outputs of the network. The obstacle avoidance task is achieved by formulating the performance criterion as D _p>d _min (d _min represents the minimal distance between the redundant robot and obstacles). Its calculation is only related to some vertices which are used to model the robot and obstacles, and the computational times are nearly linear in the total number of vertices. Several simulation cases for a four-link planar manipulator are given to prove that the proposed collision-free trajectory planning scheme is efficient and practical.     

有向网络下非线性多智能体系统的协调跟踪

基于一致性理论,在有向拓扑结构下研究非线性多智能体系统的协调跟踪控制问题．考虑智能体动力学模型为一般且仅满足Lipschitz条件的非线性系统,在仅有部分跟随智能体能获取领航智能体信息的情形下,当领航智能体与跟随智能体之间的拓扑结构具有有向生成树,即存在领航智能体到所有跟随智能体的有向路径时,所设计的分布式控制律可实现所有跟随智能体对领航智能体的跟踪,并指出该拓扑结构是系统实现跟踪的一个必要条件．最后,仿真实验验证了所设计控制算法的有效性．     

新的动态环境中目标跟踪和避障的控制方法

针对传感器范围有限的质点移动机器人,提出了一种新的被动式目标跟踪控制方法,使其能在动态变化的环境中有效地避开静止和运动的障碍物。建立了多目标控制问题模型,为环境中的每一个目标生成人工势场,在此基础上设计生成综合控制量。与标准的势场法不同的是：提出的综合势场法是时变的,而且有效地考虑了非静止障碍物和机器人的运动。其基本条件和主要特性均由严格的李亚普洛夫方法导出和证明。仿真实例介绍了该方法的设计过程,通过实验证明了其有效性。     

Distributed cooperative reinforcement learning for multi-agent system with collision avoidance

In this work, we present an optimal cooperative control scheme for a multi-agent system in an unknown dynamic obstacle environment, based on an improved distributed cooperative reinforcement learning (RL) strategy with a three-layer collaborative mechanism. The three collaborative layers are collaborative perception layer, collaborative control layer, and collaborative evaluation layer. The incorporation of collaborative perception expands the perception range of a single agent, and improves the early warning ability of the agents for the obstacles. Neural networks (NNs) are employed to approximate the cost function and the optimal controller of each agent, where the NN weight matrices are collaboratively optimized to achieve global optimal performance. The distinction of the proposed control strategy is that cooperation of the agents is embodied not only in the input of NNs (in a collaborative perception layer) but also in their weight updating procedure (in the collaborative evaluation and collaborative control layers). Comparative simulations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed RL-based cooperative control scheme.     

Novel potential-function-based control scheme for non-holonomic multi-agent systems to prevent the local minimum problem

In this paper, we consider a control problem of a non-holonomic multi-agent system. We assume that agents and obstacles are in a circular shaped work area. We propose a novel potential-function-based control scheme that drives agents from the initial to the goal configuration while avoiding collision with other agents, obstacles, and the boundary of the work area. The control scheme enables agents to avoid being trapped at local minima by forcing them to exit from the regions that may contain local minima. A numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed control scheme.     

基于多传感器信息融合的目标跟踪与防撞决策

为了实现汽车主动安全系统中的目标跟踪与防撞,提出了混合式汽车防撞系统信息融合结构模型,采用分级信息融合实现目标跟踪,推导出了基于跟踪残留误差和预测残留误差共同校正的融合算法,并给出了算法的实现结构.在此基础之上,利用模糊积分方法融合多种相关信息,确定了汽车应采用的安全运行模式,实现了主动安全防撞决策.大量实验表明,该算法具有很好的稳定性和准确率.     

一种新的智能避障转向控制方法

针对智能探测车的转向系统建立精确的数学模型十分困难,且其航向受诸多因素干扰问题,研究了预测控制中的动态矩阵法,提出了一种新的智能探测车转向机构模型。该方法用障碍物的方向和距离偏差作为参数,在预测控制算法中采用动态矩阵控制,输出前轮转向角。再将转向角预测量与实际转向角之和作为反馈,对转向角变化趋势做出预测。通过仿真验证了在不同纵向速度下,加入相同干扰时的系统响应。结果表明：该算法在智能探测车障碍物避让控制中,对外界环境的干扰具有较强的鲁棒性,能够满足智能探测车转向控制要求。     

基于非线性函数的移动机器人模糊避障算法

根据模糊逻辑的特点,利用非线性函数对传统的模糊控制算法的隶属度函数进行了改进.通过MATLAB给出的仿真证明,在采用多传感器避障过程中,机器人不仅能成功避开障碍物达到目标所在位置,并且非线性函数隶属度函数优于传统隶属度函数.新算法使机器人的行进更加平滑、稳定且具有较高的实时性.     

Adaptive path planning and tracking system based on model predictive control for autonomous vehicle local obstacle avoidance

Path planning and tracking control are the key technologies of autonomous vehicle. The planned path and tracking results affect driving stability and safety directly. In this paper, an improved local path planning method based on model predictive control is proposed to match the variation of vehicle speed and road adhesion coefficient. A two-layer model predictive control (MPC) path planning and tracking system is further designed to validate the method and the simulation results show that the proposed solution solves the problem of excessive avoidance and reduces the lateral deviation with the reference path.     

多移动机器人的领航-跟随编队避障控制

针对多移动机器人的编队控制问题,提出了一种结合Polar Histogram避障法的领航-跟随协调编队控制算法。该算法在领航-跟随l-φ编队控制结构的基础上引入虚拟跟随机器人,将编队控制转化为跟随机器人对虚拟跟随机器人的轨迹跟踪控制。结合移动机器人自身传感器技术,在简单甚至复杂的环境下为机器人提供相应的路径运动策略,实现实时导航的目的。以两轮差动Qbot移动机器人为研究对象,搭建半实物仿真平台,进行仿真实验。仿真结果表明:该方法可以有效地实现多移动机器人协调编队和避障控制。