Experimental comparison of a directed and a non-directed potential field approach to formation navigation

The field of multirobot systems (MRS) is continuously drawing more attention. The DARPA SDR program and the RoboSoccer/RobotRescue contests have shown the great potential of this field. One of the increasingly popular uses of the field of MRS is in communication and sensor-networks. These applications require a task depended navigation. The MRS sub-problem of formation navigation is predestined for this purpose. This paper presents an improvement of the classical potential field approach for motion co-ordination in formations of MRS. The approach is briefly compared to related work. For the subtask of moving in formation, a solution based on a directed potential field is presented. Different forces belonging to other robots, obstacles and the aspired shape of formation are combined and used to move each robot to its desired position inside the formation. While moving in formation, the group is able to avoid obstacles and approach towards a specified target. First experiments that show the differences and improvements in comparison to the classical method are presented.