Formation and reconfiguration control for multi-robotic systems

Abstract

In this thesis, we mainly focus on the cooperative control of multi-agent systems. Specifically, a decentralized cooperative control law for performing a specific formation or coordination among a group of robots is studied and the required conditions for achieving this task is investigated. This dissertation contributes to cooperative control of multi-agent systems from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Firstly, several essential problems such as controllability, observability and optimality are discussed. Secondly, a formation control among a group of robots is implemented in practice. Specifically, current dissertation provides a graph theoretical interpretation for the controllability property of the multi-agent system. Moreover, a novel consensus observer strategy is proposed and sufficient and necessary conditions for observability of multi-agent system are driven. Furthermore, a paradigm is introduced which systematically assigns the communication weights among a group of robots. Finally, a formation control among a group of three wheeled robots is implemented.