The NSB control for 3-dimensional flocking of multi-robot systems

This paper deals with the flocking problem of a multi-robot system, that is, making the robots of a team grouping together. The flocking behavior is achieved resorting to the null-space-based behavioral control by defining very simple behaviors for each robot and properly arranging them in priority. The algorithm, making the robots using only local information, successfully achieves the flocking mission with or without a rendezvous point and in eventual presence of obstacles. Extensive simulations, assuming 2 and 3-dimensional point-mass agents, prove the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.