Leader-follower flocking experiments using estimated flocking center

Abstract

We define a leader-follower flocking system in which a few members are group leaders who have global trajectory knowledge, while majority members are group followers who can communicate with neighbors, but do not have global trajectory information. The followers even do not know who are the leaders in the group. All group members estimate the position of flocking center by using a consensus algorithm via local communication in order to keep the flocking group connected. Based on the estimated positions of flocking center, a leader-follower flocking algorithm is proposed and its stability is proved. A group of real robots, “wifibots”, are used to test the feasibility of the flocking algorithm. This leader-follower flocking system can track desired trajectories led by group leaders.