Weidong Chen

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Modelling and Control of Mobile Robot Networks

Summary

Swarm intelligence of mobile robots is defined as a mobile robot network with only local interactions and finite sensing capabilities which however could achieve global objectives and collective behaviors. The most well-known examples of swarm intelligence in nature are discovered in the collective behaviors of ant and bee colonies. Self-healing is one of the most important components in swarm intelligence.

In this talk, we will provide a theoretical modelling as well as a control method for self-healing of mobile robot networks based on motion synchronization. Using the graph and complex network theories, we establish the model of a mobile robot network which combines switched network topologies with an interaction dynamic model for describing the motion of the robots. We propose a performance metric of the network topology to evaluate the stability and the robustness of motion synchronization, analyze the effect of failed robots upon the network topology, and show the necessity and principle of the self-healing method based on only local interactions. A fully distributed and recursive topology control for self-healing with switched topologies is then proposed. We show that the self-healing algorithm can prevent the network topology from being separated into two or more disconnected parts, and maintain the performance of the network. Based on the Lyapunov exponent, we further provide a criterion of the stability of the network with the proposed distributed control. Finally, we demonstrate the advantages of our self-healing method by performing simulations of two typical tasks, formation generation and coverage.

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