Abstract
This paper presents a new vision-based leaderfollower formation algorithm where the leader's trajectory is unknown to the robots which are following. Formation schemes in straight lines and diagonal formations are introduced which are both stable and observable in the presence of limited views. The algorithms are novel since they only use local image measurements through a pinhole camera to estimate the leader's position. This approach does not require specialized markings nor extensive robot communications. The algorithms are also decentralized. We apply an input-output feedback linearization for system stability and utilize an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) for estimation. Simulations illustrate how the proposed formation controls work. Real experiments utilizing multiple miniature robots are also presented and illustrate the challenges associated with noisy images in real-world applications.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 5152261 |
| Pages (from-to) | 351-356 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2009 |
| Event | 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA '09 - Kobe, Japan Duration: May 12 2009 → May 17 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This material is based upon work supported in part by, the U. S. Army Research Laboratory and the U. S. Army Research Office under contract number #911NF-08-1-0463 (Proposal 55111-CI), and the National Science Foundation through grants #IIS-0219863, #CNS-0224363, #CNS-0324864, #CNS-0420836, #IIP-0443945, #IIP-0726109, and #CNS-0708344.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2009 IEEE.