Distributed robust MPC for nonholonomic robots with obstacle and collision avoidance

Considering that the inevitable disturbances and coupled constraints pose an ongoing challenge to distributed control algorithms, this paper proposes a distributed robust model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for a multi-agent system with additive external disturbances and obstacle and collision avoidance constraints. In particular, all the agents are allowed to solve optimization problems simultaneously at each time step to obtain their control inputs, and the obstacle and collision avoidance are accomplished in the context of full-dimensional controlled objects and obstacles. To achieve the collision avoidance between agents in the distributed framework, an assumed state trajectory is introduced for each agent which is transmitted to its neighbors to construct the polyhedral over-approximations of it. Then the polyhedral over-approximations of the agent and the obstacles are used to smoothly reformulate the original nonconvex obstacle and collision avoidance constraints. And a compatibility constraint is designed to restrict the deviation between the predicted and assumed trajectories. Moreover, recursive feasibility of each local MPC optimization problem with all these constraints derived and input-to-state stability of the closed-loop system can be ensured through a sufficient condition on controller parameters. Finally, simulations with four agents and two obstacles demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

一种用于群体模拟的分层次避障法

个体避障是实现基于主体的(agent-based)群体模拟中一个很重要的问题,为了实现个体间以及个体和环境间的碰撞避免并杜绝穿透,人们提出了大量避障方法.但是,这些方法面临的挑战在于:如何杜绝穿透现象并最大程度地减少由于避障需求而带来的个体行为模拟上的空间限制和失真.针对这一问题,提出了一种分层次避障方法,从静态避障、动态避障、穿透矫正3个不同的层次对避障进行处理.静态避障层和动态避障层通过对物体的划分和分别避障,极大地减少了各层次避障时需要考虑的各种复杂情形;而基于可变包围盒和原位置的穿透矫正层则有效地杜绝了模拟中出现的穿透现象,也消除了现有模拟中由于避免穿透而引入的空间限制和失真.     

碰撞锥检测改进的多智能体避障算法

避障是多智能体能够适应复杂环境并顺利完成任务的必要条件之一。为使多智能体更快通过障碍物并达到一致,提出了一种多智能体避障控制算法。算法引入了避障系数,该系数由基于角度比较的碰撞锥检测方法来确定,并通过牵制控制输入完成多智能体的避障。证明了在该算法作用下所有智能体最终会避开障碍,避免碰撞并最终达到一致。通过实验仿真分析和对比,该方法能够使得多智能体更快避开障碍物。     

Formation and obstacle avoidance control for multiagent systems

This paper considers the problems of formation and obstacle avoidance for multiagent systems.The objective is to design a term of agents that can reach a desired formation while avoiding collision with obstacles.To reduce the amount of information interaction between agents and target,we adopt the leader-follower formation strategy.By using the receding horizon control (RHC),an optimal problem is formulated in terms of cost minimization under constraints.Information on obstacles is incorporated online as sensed in a limited sensing range.The communication requirements between agents are that the followers should obtain the previous optimal control trajectory of the leader to each update time.The stability is guaranteed by adding a terminal-state penalty to the cost function and a terminal-state region to optimal problem.Finally,simulation studies are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Avoiding the local-minimum problem in multi-agent systems with limited sensing and communication

In this paper, we consider a control problem for nonholonomic multi-agent systems in which agents and obstacles operate within a circular-shaped work area. We assume that agents only have limited sensing and communication ranges. We propose a novel control scheme using potential functions 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 employs an avoidance strategy that ensures that the agents are never trapped at local minima that are typically encountered with most potential function-based approaches. A numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

Decentralized Dynamic Coverage Control for Mobile Sensor Networks in a Non‐convex Environment

In this paper, we consider the problem of decentralized dynamic coverage control for mobile sensor networks in an environment with unknown obstacles. The goal is to cover each point in the mission domain but outside the obstacles to a desired level. Each agent is modeled as a point mass based on Newton's law. A decentralized control strategy is developed to accomplish the dynamic coverage task without collision with obstacles. Discrete update of the cooperative coverage is also considered to enhance the cooperation of the agents in the fleet. The collision avoidance and global convergence of the proposed control scheme are proved and illustrated via a simulation example.     

Flocking of multi‐agent nonholonomic systems with unknown leader dynamics and relative measurements

In this paper, we consider the distributed flocking control problem of multi‐agent nonholonomic systems with a virtual leader whose dynamics is unknown; state information is time varying and not available to all agents under both fixed and switching topologies. On the basis of the relative velocity and orientation information of neighboring agents, two distributed discontinuous control protocols are designed for fixed and switching topologies, respectively. By using tools from algebraic graph theory and nonsmooth analysis, the proposed distributed discontinuous control protocols guarantee that the velocities and orientations of the agents exponentially converge to the velocity and orientation of the virtual leader, respectively, while ensuring collision avoidance of the whole group, if the interaction graph among agents is undirected and the virtual leader with bounded time‐varying velocity has directed paths to other agents. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Scalable Adaptive Approach to Multi-Vehicle Formation Control with Obstacle Avoidance

This paper deals with the problem of distributed formation tracking control and obstacle avoidance of multi-vehicle systems (MVSs) in complex obstacle-laden environments. The MVS under consideration consists of a leader vehicle with an unknown control input and a group of follower vehicles, connected via a directed interaction topology, subject to simultaneous unknown heterogeneous nonlinearities and external disturbances. The central aim is to achieve effective and collision-free formation tracking control for the nonlinear and uncertain MVS with obstacles encountered in formation maneuvering, while not demanding global information of the interaction topology. Toward this goal, a radial basis function neural network is used to model the unknown nonlinearity of vehicle dynamics in each vehicle and repulsive potentials are employed for obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, a scalable distributed adaptive formation tracking control protocol with a built-in obstacle avoidance mechanism is developed. It is proved that, with the proposed protocol, the resulting formation tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded and obstacle collision avoidance is guaranteed. Comprehensive simulation results are elaborated to substantiate the effectiveness and the promising collision avoidance performance of the proposed scalable adaptive formation control approach.      

三维动态环境下多无人机编队分布式保持控制

针对无人机编队沿参考轨迹飞行时遭遇突发障碍物而发生碰撞的问题, 提出一种可实时避障及机间避碰的分布式编队保持算法. 基于虚拟结构编队策略, 采用非线性模型预测控制(NMPC) 方法设计分布式编队控制器. 为了实现通讯延迟下的机间避碰, 采用基于不同优先级的改进避碰惩罚策略. 仿真结果表明, 所设计的分布式编队控制器能保证编队及时避开环境中的突发障碍物, 且无人机间不发生互碰, 避障后的各编队继续以原队形沿参考轨迹飞行.

     

基于模糊人工势场法的多智能体编队控制及避障方法

针对动态环境中多智能体编队控制及避障问题,提出了一种基于模糊人工势场法的编队方法。首先,在领航跟随法的框架下控制编队队形,在动态队形变换策略的异构模式下,使用人工势场法为多智能体编队中每个智能体规划避障路径;其次,利用模糊控制器控制跟随智能体追踪领航智能体,同时保持跟随智能体之间与领航智能体的相对距离,遇到未知障碍物时,及时保持多智能体编队之间的队形并避免碰撞障碍物。针对人工势场法在引力增量系数和斥力增量系数设置的局限性,利用模糊控制器选择出适应环境的增量系数。Matlab仿真实验结果表明,该方法能够有效地解决复杂环境下多智能体编队控制及避障问题,使用效率函数对实验数据进行分析,验证了所优化方法的合理性和有效性。     

Navigation of carlike robots in an extended dynamic environment with swarm avoidance

In this paper, we propose a new solution to the motion planning and control problem for a team of carlike mobile robots traversing in an extended dynamic environment. Motivated by the emerging necessity to avoid or defend against a swarm of autonomous robots, the wide array of obstacles in this dynamic environment for the first time includes a swarm of boids governed separately by a system of ordinary differential equations. The swarm exhibits collective emergent behaviors, whereas the carlike mobile robots safely navigate to designated targets. We present a set of nonlinear continuous controllers for obstacle, collision, and swarm avoidance. The controllers provide a collision‐free trajectory within a constrained workspace cluttered with various fixed and moving obstacles while satisfying the nonholonomic and kinodynamic constraints associated with the vehicular robotic system. An advantage of the proposed method is the ease in deriving the acceleration‐based control laws from the Lyapunov‐based control scheme. The effectiveness of the control laws is demonstrated via computer simulations. The novelty of this paper lies in the simplicity of the controllers and the ease in the treatment of an extended dynamic environment, which includes swarm avoidance.     

A backstepping design for directed formation control of three‐coleader agents in the plane

This paper deals with a directed formation control problem of three agents moving in the plane, where the agents have a cyclic ordering with each one required to maintain a nominated distance from its neighbor, and each agent is described by a double integrator. Firstly, a directed formation control law based on the knowledge only of the neighbor's direction is designed by using the integrator backstepping technique, which can not only accomplish the desired triangle formation but also ensure that speeds of all agents converge to a common value without collision between each other during the motion. Then, with the purpose of relaxing and even overcoming the restriction of initial conditions of the agents owing to collision avoidance, we introduce the inter‐agent potential functions into the design. The convergence of the proposed control algorithms is proved by using tools from LaSalle's invariance principle. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the control laws. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

感知范围受限的群机器人自主围捕算法

针对在有障碍物场地中感知范围受限的群机器人协同围捕问题,本文首先给出了机器人个体、障碍物、目标的模型,并用数学形式对围捕任务进行描述,在此基础上提出了机器人个体基于简化虚拟速度和基于航向避障的自主围捕控制律.基于简化虚拟速度模型的控制律使得机器人能自主地围捕目标同时保持与同伴的距离避免互撞;基于航向的避障方法提升了个体...     

A 3D reactive collision avoidance algorithm for underactuated underwater vehicles

Avoiding collisions is an essential goal of the control system of autonomous vehicles. This paper presents a reactive algorithm for avoiding obstacles in a three‐dimensional space, and shows how the algorithm can be applied to an underactuated underwater vehicle. The algorithm is based on maintaining a constant avoidance angle to the obstacle, which ensures that a guaranteed minimum separation distance is achieved. The algorithm can thus be implemented without knowledge of the obstacle shape. The avoidance angle is designed to compensate for obstacle movement, and the flexibility of operating in 3D can be utilized to implement traffic rules or operational constraints. We exemplify this by incorporating safety constraints on the vehicle pitch and by making the vehicle seek to move behind the obstacle, while also minimizing the required control effort. The underactuation of the vehicle induces a sway and heave movement while turning. To avoid uncontrolled gliding into the obstacle, we account for this movement using a Flow frame controller, which controls the direction of the vehicle's velocity rather than just the pitch and yaw. We derive conditions under which it is ensured that the resulting maneuver is safe, and these results are verified trough simulations and through full‐scale experiments on the Hugin HUS autonomous underwater vehicle. The latter demonstrates the performance of the proposed algorithm when applied to a case with unmodeled disturbances and sensor noise, and shows how the modular nature of the collision avoidance algorithm allows it to be applied on top of a commercial control system.     

Coordination control of multiple Euler–Lagrange systems for escorting mission

In this paper, a motion control problem of multi‐agent systems for escorting a target is investigated by employing nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control and adaptive control associated with kinematic control. The proposed control law is robust to model uncertainty and disturbances, and it guarantees all the agents to scatter around the target evenly and escort it with a fixed distance while avoiding obstacles (or collisions) in p‐dimensional case ( is a positive integer). Finite‐time convergence of the position errors and velocity errors is proved rigorously by a Lyapunov‐based approach and finite‐time control techniques. Simulation results in both two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional space are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and high‐precision performance of the control algorithm compared with the traditional adaptive sliding mode control, showing that all the agents can move into suitable positions on the surface of the sphere in the escort mission, and the formation can be reconfigured automatically when the obstacle (or collision) avoidance task is active. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

基于规则的移动机器人实时运动规划

研究移动机器人在动态环境中的导航与避障问题。为提高规划的实时性,提出了基于规则的规划方法,将多移动障碍环境机器人的运动规划分解为相对简单的单移动障碍运动规划,利用最优控制来实现单障碍的最优避障,并用智能搜索方法解决了移动机器人在多移动障碍环境中的实时运动规划问题。仿真实例表明了该方法的有效性。     

A Method of Boundary Following by a Wheeled Mobile Robot Based on Sampled Range Information

In this paper, we propose a control law for navigating a robot along the boundary of an obstacle, using sampled line-of-sight obstacle distance data. By forming some assumptions about the shape of the obstacle, we generate constraints suitable for navigation using a model predictive control type approach. We show how a target point may be generated to facilitate the desired motion. The proposed method is suitable for vehicles with unicycle dynamics, and has the advantage of being able to vary the vehicles speed and following distance to adapt to the obstacle. We are able to show collision avoidance, complete transversal of the obstacle and finite completion time for transversing a finite boundary segment. Possible extensions to target convergence and moving obstacles are outlined. Simulations and experiments confirm the validity of the method.     

基于Leader-Follower的分队队形控制寻径算法研究

在战场环境中,战术分队的队形在面对复杂静态或动态障碍物难以较好地保持,针对此问题,提出了基于Leader-Follower算法的改进队形控制方法。在Leader寻径阶段,通过在战场导航网格中应用两阶段路径搜索方法,先使用A*算法寻找由三角形通道和可利用地物组成的路径,再使用改进的Funnel算法在考虑队形规模的约束条件下对路径作平滑处理。在Follower跟随阶段中,通过采用morphing技术,产生在复杂障碍约束下平滑的中间约束队形序列,并结合提出的队形弹簧模型,局部修正并控制Follower每一时刻的速度。为解决面对动态障碍的避碰问题,基于相对速度障碍法,并加入速度协同控制,避免队形在避碰过程中失效。最后通过实验表明了该方法的有效性。