Multi-robot formation control using potential field for mobile ad-hoc networks

Mobile ad-hoc networks are characterized by self-organization, rapid deployment and fault tolerance, however of limited communication range and frequent topology change. For a multi-robot formation supported by mobile ad-hoc networks, when the robots change their formation to avoid obstacles or for other purposes, a robot may easily lose its wireless connection with the network if it goes beyond the communication range. The wireless connections among all the robots must be maintained during their motion. To address this problem, we propose an environmental potential field model which includes a special attractive force determined by the inter-robot distances, in addition to the classical attractive force and the repulsive forces, respectively, defined by the goal and obstacles. Simulations have been conducted to verify the proposed method, and the results demonstrate that our approach can effectively control the change of the formation of a multi-robots system in mobile ad-hoc networks