Multi-robot systems and swarming

This chapter provides an introduction into collective behavior in multi-robot systems. In particular, it considers different types of communication and control in multi-agent systems, basic flocking rules, and general methods of aggregation and collision avoidance. The control level considers the roles of the agents in the decision-making process. While considering the multi-agent systems consisting of the mobile robots, the main problem is the problem of navigation of the robots such that it provides a desired motion the swarm. The desired motion of swarm can be obtained as a result of the planned motions of the robots, or, by contrast, the motion of each swarm mate is obtained autonomously with respect to the planned motion of the swarm. The chapter also considers the main principles of swarming and the methods of their implementation based on the attraction and repulsion potential functions.