Experiments of obstacles and collision avoidance with a distributed multi-robot system

In this paper we describe preliminary experiments of obstacle and collision avoidance with a distributed multi-robot system composed of grounded mobile robots equipped with laser range finder. We implemented a localization algorithm to make the robots avail autonomous navigation in indoor environments, and then we apply a behavior based technique, namely the NullSpace based Behavioral control, to make the robots navigate avoiding collision among themselves and with obstacles detected with the laser. Several tests have been performed using a team of up to four Khepera III mobile robots equipped with Hokuyo URG laser range finder and communicating via ad-hoc wireless network.