Ergodic Specifications for Flexible Swarm Control: From User Commands to Persistent Adaptation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a flexible swarm control framework using ergodic specifications that enables dynamic, real-time adaptation to user commands and environmental changes in both simulation and real-world scenarios.

Contribution

It presents an end-to-end system from user interface to decentralized control using ergodic planning, demonstrating real-time adaptability in swarm robotics.

Findings

Successful virtual reality validation of the control approach.

Real-world DARPA OFFSET swarm experiments showing dynamic responsiveness.

Robustness of the system in changing environmental conditions.

Abstract

This paper presents a formulation for swarm control and high-level task planning that is dynamically responsive to user commands and adaptable to environmental changes. We design an end-to-end pipeline from a tactile tablet interface for user commands to onboard control of robotic agents based on decentralized ergodic coverage. Our approach demonstrates reliable and dynamic control of a swarm collective through the use of ergodic specifications for planning and executing agent trajectories as well as responding to user and external inputs. We validate our approach in a virtual reality simulation environment and in real-world experiments at the DARPA OFFSET Urban Swarm Challenge FX3 field tests with a robotic swarm where user-based control of the swarm and mission-based tasks require a dynamic and flexible response to changing conditions and objectives in real-time.