Distributed source seeking by cooperative robots: All-to-all and limited communications

Abstract

We consider the problem of source seeking using a group of mobile robots equipped with sensors for concentration measurement (instead of the gradient). In our formulation, each robot maintains a gradient estimation, moves to the source by tracing the gradient, and all together keep a predefined formation in movement. We present two control algorithms with all-to-all and limited communications, respectively. The estimation error is taken into account to derive robust control algorithms. Comparing to existing methods, the proposed algorithm with limited communications is fully distributed. Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations are given to validate the effectiveness of our methods.