June 4, 2012 13:43 WSPC - Proceedings Trim Size: 9in x 6in Main-English 797 LOCAL DISTRIBUTED CONTROL FOR MULTI-ROBOT NAVIGATION A. TERRONES * , R. ACU ˜ NA, N. CERTAD, L. FERM ´ IN-LE ´ ON and G. FERN ´ ANDEZ-L ´ OPEZ Sim´onBol´ ıvar University, Mechatronics Group, ELE-328 Sartenejas 1080-A Miranda, Venezuela * E-mail: aterrones@usb.ve In this work a distributed navigation control strategy for multi-robot systems based only in the local information provided by the robots is presented. Each robot calculates the vector forces required for navigation towards a goal avoid- ing possible obstacles on the workspace and traveling in formation with other members of the swarm. A control architecture was implemented for the gen- eration of the vector force used for navigation, based on three basic behavior agents responsible of calculating individual force components needed for navi- gation to the target, obstacle avoidance and swarm navigation. Also, an event driven control system is in charge of assigning a priority level to each force component generated by the agents of basic behaviors. Results obtained in simulations show the effectiveness of the control system in the navigation of a system of multiple robots under different obstacle configuration. Keywords : Swarm, Distributed Systems, Artificial Potential Fields, Vector Force Fields, Event Driven Control 1. Introduction The problem of coordinated navigation arises when the task is considered too complex to be efficiently executed by a single robot. T asks such as reconnaissance, rescue and cleaning are complex enough to be performed by one robot in an acceptable time limit. 1,2 However, the presence of sev- eral platforms working together may optimize runtime work, 3 allows the use of simpler robots and introduces system redundancy. 2 Raynolds 4 devel- oped an algorithm for the simulation of birds and fish flocks by using only three rules responsible of collision avoidance and velocity matching between agents and centralization of the group. Arkin et. al. 5 address the problem of flock navigation using a creative approach based on potential fields. Olfati- Saber 6,7 attacks the problem of multi-robot navigation using a vector field CLAWAR 2012 – Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines, Baltimore, MD, USA, 23 – 26 July 2012