Multiple mobile robot cooperative target intercept with local coordination

Abstract

The paper studies the problem of intercepting multiple evading targets with a swarm of autonomous cooperative mobile robots. A distributed control scheme is developed combining dynamic assignment and target pursuit strategies. By observing the targets and the neighbor robots, each robot decides its own target and attacks the target at a point ahead of its trajectory. It shows that the group of robots is capable of dividing the targets with local coordination even in absence of centralized assignment and negotiation. Moreover, one to one intercept can be successfully accomplished given that the evaders are slower than the pursers.