Experimental Validation of Stable Coordination for Multi-Robot Systems with Limited Fields of View using a PortableMulti-Robot Testbed

TL;DR

This paper presents a framework and experimental validation for achieving stable coordinated motion in multi-robot systems with limited fields of view, using UAVs in indoor and outdoor environments with real-world challenges.

Contribution

It introduces the first framework for stable motion and topology control in multi-robot systems with limited FOVs, validated through real-world experiments.

Findings

Successful coordination in indoor environments

Robust performance in outdoor conditions with wind

Demonstrated effectiveness of the control framework

Abstract

In this paper, we address the problem of stable coordinated motion in multi-robot systems with limited fields of view (FOVs). These problems arise naturally for multi-robot systems that interact based on sensing, such as our case study of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) each equipped with several cameras that are used for detecting neighboring UAVs. In this context, our contributions are: i) first, we derive a framework for studying stable motion and distributed topology control for multi-robot systems with limited FOVs; and ii) Then, we provide experimental results in indoor and challenging outdoor environments (e.g., with wind speeds up to 10 mph) with a team of UAVs to demonstrate the performance of the proposed control framework using a portable multi-robot experimental set-up.