Abstract
Flip ambiguities are a notorious issue with distance-based formation control due to the presence of unwanted equilibrium points in the formation dynamics. We propose a switched control system for preventing these ambiguities in 3D formations composed of tetrahedra. The approach contains a switching strategy that steers the formation of mobile robots towards the desired configuration for all initial positions, excluding certain collocated, collinear, or coplanar cases, by applying the standard distance-based controller and/or rigid-body maneuvers to subformations. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed formation control system can lead to faster formation acquisition and less control effort than an existing method.
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Simulation Animations (2023) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKXaQfLd5M55rOQZP8BD95dh2WjyD4UC6
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The research leading to these results received funding from NASA under grant number NNX15AH82H.
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FS and MdQ co-designed the control strategy and co-wrote the manuscript. FS conducted the simulations.
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Sahebsara , F., Queiroz, M.d. A Switched Control Strategy for Avoiding Flip Ambiguities in 3D Formations. J Intell Robot Syst 110, 39 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01967-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01967-3