Efficient Multi-Agent Global Navigation Using Interpolating Bridges

TL;DR

This paper introduces a pre-computed bridge-based method for efficient collision-free multi-agent navigation in complex 2D and 3D environments, enabling real-time control of many agents.

Contribution

It proposes a novel bridge-based approach that combines pre-computed trajectories with local navigation for scalable multi-agent collision avoidance.

Findings

Handles tens to hundreds of agents in real-time

Works effectively in narrow passages and crowded regions

Applicable to 2D and 3D workspaces

Abstract

We present a novel approach for collision-free global navigation for continuous-time multi-agent systems with general linear dynamics. Our approach is general and can be used to perform collision-free navigation in 2D and 3D workspaces with narrow passages and crowded regions. As part of pre-computation, we compute multiple bridges in the narrow or tight regions in the workspace using kinodynamic RRT algorithms. Our bridge has certain geometric characteristics, that en- able us to calculate a collision-free trajectory for each agent using simple interpolation at runtime. Moreover, we combine interpolated bridge trajectories with local multi-agent navigation algorithms to compute global collision-free paths for each agent. The overall approach combines the performance benefits of coupled multi-agent algorithms with the pre- computed trajectories of the bridges to handle challenging scenarios. In practice, our approach can handle tens to hundreds of agents in real-time on a single CPU core in 2D and 3D workspaces.