Formation control using adaptive parameter-dependent potential functions

In this paper we present a formation control approach based on Gaussian potential functions, each parametrized by an agent-related control parameter. This results in different characteristics of attractive and repulsive forces among agents and targets, as well as among agents themselves and dependence of the formation´s potential structure on the change of agent´s configurations. Furthermore, we show that the undesired stable equilibria can be eliminated by the mutual interaction of agents. This leads to the characteristics change of the elementary potential functions achieved by adaptation. The introduced adaptation changes the agent-related control parameters step-wise depending on the acquired equilibrium state. The proposed approach is implemented and validated in simulation and experimentally.