No-beacon collective circular motion of jointly connected multi-agents

In this paper, a decentralized control algorithm is proposed for a group of nonholonomic vehicles to form a class of collective circular motion behavior. Without the guidance of a global beacon, the desired collective behavior occurs provided that the multi-agent system is jointly connected. Moreover, a repulsion mechanism is considered to improve the distribution evenness of the agents’ circular motion phases and hence to avoid collision. The effectiveness of the approach is verified through both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Moreover, some interesting variations of the circular motion model are investigated to enrich the collective behaviors.     

Experimental validation of collective circular motion for nonholonomic multi-vehicle systems

This paper presents the experimental validation of a recently proposed decentralized control law, for the collective circular motion of a team of nonholonomic vehicles about a virtual reference beacon. The considered control strategy ensures global asymptotic stability in the single-vehicle case and local asymptotic stability in the multi-vehicle scenario. The main contribution of this work is to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm in the presence of a number of uncertainty sources naturally arising in a real-world environment. Both static and moving reference beacons are considered, in a low-cost experimental framework based on the LEGO MINDSTORMS technology. The adopted setup features good scalability and is versatile enough to be adopted for the evaluation of different control strategies. At the same time, it represents a challenging testbed, exhibiting several issues that have to be faced in real-world applications.     

Stabilization of sets with application to multi-vehicle coordinated motion

In this paper, we develop stability and control design framework for time-varying and time-invariant sets of nonlinear dynamical systems using vector Lyapunov functions. Several Lyapunov functions arise naturally in multi-agent systems, where each agent can be associated with a generalized energy function which further becomes a component of a vector Lyapunov function. We apply the developed control framework to the problem of multi-vehicle coordinated motion to design distributed controllers for individual vehicles moving in a specified formation. The main idea of our approach is that a moving formation of vehicles can be characterized by a time-varying set in the state space, and hence, the problem of distributed control design for multi-vehicle coordinated motion is equivalent to the design of stabilizing controllers for time-varying sets of nonlinear dynamical systems. The control framework is shown to ensure global exponential stabilization of multi-vehicle formations. Finally, we implement the feedback stabilizing controllers for time-invariant sets to achieve global exponential stabilization of static formations of multiple vehicles.     

Collective rotating motions of second-order multi-agent systems in three-dimensional space

This paper addresses collective rotating motions of second-order multi-agent systems in three-dimensional space (3D). Two distributed control protocols are proposed and sufficient conditions are derived under which all agents rotate around a common point with a specified formation structure. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.     

A multi-agent architecture for control of AGV systems

Agent is an autonomous, computational entity that can be viewed as perceiving its environment and acting upon it. Agents are event-driven objects that can be integrated in automated manufacturing environments to control certain tasks. In this paper a set of agents (a multi-agent system) is introduced to control an automated manufacturing environment. The architecture includes functions at the manufacturing cell level, materials handling and transport level, and factory scheduling level. Communication between these agents is accomplished by using a relational database (blackboard system). The relational database also integrates the requirements of a manufacturing execution system within the multi-agent task structure, which is unique to this architecture. Manufacturing cell and scheduling agents have been previously described in the literature. Here we focus our attention on the functions of the agents of the transport system, which is composed of a set of AGVs.     

Swarming behavior of multi—agent systems

We consider an anisotropic swarm model with an attraction/repulsion function and study its aggregation properties. It is shown that the swarm members will aggregate and eventually form a cohesive cluster of finite size around the swarm center in a finite time. Moreover, we extend our results to more general attraction/repttlsion functions. Numerical simulations demonstrate that all agents will eventually enter into and remain in a bounded region around the swarm center which may exhibit complex spiral motion due to asymmetry of the coupling structure. The model in this paper is more general than isotropic swarms and our results provide fiarther insight into the effect of the interaction pattem on individual motion in a swarm system.     

Formation tracking of multi-vehicle systems in unknown environments using a multi-region control scheme

In this paper, a multi-region control scheme is proposed for a formation of nonholonomic vehicles to track a reference trajectory while avoiding collisions and preserving network connectivity in unknown environments. The proposed control scheme defines three regions, safe region, dangerous region and transition region. In different regions, priority is given to different control objectives. In safe region where trajectory tracking holds the priority, the proposed control scheme guarantees bounded tracking of the reference trajectory for each vehicle. In dangerous region where avoidance control is the main objective, a new bounded potential function is designed to characterise constraints of obstacle and inter-vehicle collision avoidance as well as connectivity maintenance. By introducing a series of transition functions, smooth switching between trajectory tracking and avoidance control is achieved in transition region. It has been proved that each vehicle can track its reference trajectory while satisfying the constraints simultaneously with a bounded controller which means that the proposed control scheme satisfies input constraints by properly tuning parameters. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Flocking for swarm systems with fixed topology in a changing environment

This paper is mainly devoted to the flocking of a class of swarm with fixed topology in a changing environment. Firstly, the controller for each agent is proposed by employing the error terms between the state of the agent and the average state of its neighbors. Secondly, a sufficient condition for the swarm to achieve flocking is presented under assumptions that the gradient of the environment is bounded and the initial position graph is connected. Thirdly, as the environment is a plane, it is further proved that the velocity of each agent finally converges to the velocity of the swarm center although not one agent knows where the center of the group is. Finally, numerical examples are included to illustrate the obtained results.     

Stabilization of the driven multilink nonholonomic system

This reserach is devoted to the problem of stabilization of the motion of a chain made of n bodies. Based on a mechanical model that explains the flutter-type instability of rectilinear motion of multilink systems moving in a resisting medium the influence of the spring attachements and dampers on the wingers is considered in this stabilization problem.     

A local motion planner for car-like robots in a cluttered environment

This paper deals with the motion-planning problem for car-like robots (i.e., a mobile robot with nonholonomic and upper-bounded curvature constraints). In this paper, we propose an efficient planner for a simplified car-like robot model. Our motion planner approximates the derivative of configuration generated by a local holonomic motion planner that ignores motion constrainst, while guaranteeing collision avoidance. Using some simulations, we confirm the validity and efficiency of our algorithm. Presented at the International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 18–20, 1996     

Collective motion in non-reciprocal swarms

This paper studies a non-reciprocal swarm model that consists of a group of mobile autonomous agents with an attraction-repulsion function governing the interaction of the agents. The function is chosen to have infinitely large values of repulsion for vanishing distance between two agents so as to avoid occurrence of collision. It is shown analytically that under the detailed balance condition in coupling weights, all the agents will aggregate and eventually form a cohesive cluster of finite size around the weighted center of the swarm in a finite time. Moreover, the swarm system is completely stable, namely, the motion of all agents converge to the set of equilibrium points. For the general case of non-reciprocal swarms without the detailed balance condition, numerical simulations show that more complex self-organized oscillations can emerge in the swarms. The effect of noise on collective dynamics of the swarm is also examined with a white Gaussian noise model.     

Dynamic control and motion planning technique for a class of nonlinear systems with drift

The paper addresses the synthesis of a smooth dynamic feedback for a class of nonholonomic systems (nonlinear systems with drift). The proposed technique provides asymptotic stability and convergence to a desired equilibrium manifold. The manifold is a (task) function of the generalized co-ordinates. Applications of the proposed technique to control of two classes of nonholonomic systems are presented.     

Constrained motion planning of nonholonomic systems

This paper addresses the constrained motion planning problem for nonholonomic systems represented by driftless control systems with output. The problem consists in defining a control function driving the system output to a desirable point at a given time instant, whereas state and control variables remain over the control horizon within prescribed bounds. The state and control constraints are handled by extending the control system with a pair of state equations driven by the violation of constraints, and adding regularizing perturbations. For the regularized system a Jacobian motion planning algorithm is designed, called imbalanced. Solutions of example constrained motion planning problems for the rolling ball illustrate the theoretical concepts.     

基于多车辆集群的多编队一致性协议

针对车道减少路段下的车辆通行问题,提出了一个基于多车辆集群的多编队横向和纵向一致性协议.该协议既保证集群内领导车、跟随车状态的一致性,又保证集群间领导车状态的一致性,使得集群所有车辆能够通过车道减少路口.利用Routh稳定理论和Lyapunov方法,对控制协议进行一致性和稳定性分析.仿真实验结果验证了所提横向和纵向协议能够使得多车辆集群收敛一致,并且在满足不同车辆换道比例的情况下能够提高道路吞吐量、减少总通行时间.     

Periodic motion planning and control for underactuated mechanical systems

We consider the problem of periodic motion planning and of designing stabilising feedback control laws for such motions in underactuated mechanical systems. A novel periodic motion planning method is proposed. Each state is parametrised by a truncated Fourier series. Then we use numerical optimisation to search for the parameters of the trigonometric polynomial exploiting the measure of discrepancy in satisfying the passive dynamics equations as a performance index. Thus an almost feasible periodic motion is found. Then a linear controller is designed and stability analysis is given to verify that solutions of the closed-loop system stay inside a tube around the planned approximately feasible periodic trajectory. Experimental results for a double rotary pendulum are shown, while numerical simulations are given for models of a spacecraft with liquid sloshing and of a chain of mass spring system.     

网络化运动控制系统的动态带宽分配策略

针对网络化运动控制系统带宽限制和静态分配无法有效利用带宽资源的问题,提出了基于控制性能指标和当前网络状态的动态带宽分配策略.在保证各控制环最小可用带宽的前提下,根据定义的代价函数优化分配剩余带宽资源,实现带宽使用的最小化和系统性能的最大化.从算法实现的角度,按平衡状态、扰动状态和最大需求状态给出了3种典型的带宽分配方案,仿真结果证明了方案的有效性.     

Linear stabilization of nonlinear systems program motion

The problem of nonlinear systems control in presence of indeterminacy is considered. It is proposed to stabilize the program motion by strong linear feedback. Such a control law is proved to ensure the tracking of the program motion with any given accuracy under control restrictions. Results may be adopted to robot-manipulator control.     

On the observability of linear motion quantities in navigation systems

Navigation systems are a key element in a large variety of mobile platforms, where the correct knowledge of their position and attitude is essential in most applications. This paper focuses on the observability of linear motion quantities (position, linear velocity, linear acceleration, and accelerometer bias). It presents necessary and sufficient conditions, with a clear physical insight, for the observability of these variables in 3-D. The analysis provided is based on kinematic models, which are exact and intrinsic to the motion of a rigid-body, and different cases are presented depending on the assumptions made on the sensor suite that is available on-board.