Virtual attractive-repulsive potentials for cooperative control of second order dynamic vehicles on the caltech MVWT

Abstract

We consider a motion planning method based on cooperative biological swarming models with virtual attractive and repulsive potentials (VARP). We derive a map between the model and fan speeds for the Kelly, a second order vehicle on the Caltech multi vehicle wireless testbed. The motion planning map results leads to the development and implementation of a point to point controller which is subsequently used as part of a cooperative searching algorithm. The VARP control method is scalable and can be used to organize a swarm of robotic vehicles.