A hybrid system approach to formation reconfiguration in cluttered environments

This paper outlines a formation control strategy for maneuvering a team of nonholonomic robots within a mapped environment. The major contribution of this work is an exploration of when formation changes should occur. We approach this problem using a two step process. First, a hybrid controller is designed which can follow a set of waypoints while switching between a group of formations based on the clearance to obstacles. Next, we present an optimization based path planner that attempts to minimize the cost of travel. Essentially, this path planner ensures that the robots only switch to less desirable formations when doing so results in considerably reduced travel distance. Simulation results verify the validity of our approach.