Hierarchical Model for an AUV Swarm with a Leader

Abstract This paper introduces an innovative hierarchical model with a leader to facilitate navigation of a swarm of underwater robots, inspired by the collective behaviours observed in natural animal groups, such as schools of fish and flocks of birds. In this model, the leader robot carries a comprehensive set of navigation information, while the other robots are stratified based on the relative distances between them and follow the leader during the navigation process. The model incorporates repulsion and attraction forces to enable clustering and collision avoidance among the robots. Initial simulation results confirm the scalability of the model and its robustness against noise, while further simulations demonstrate that the proposed layered strategy effectively manages polyline and circular trajectory navigation and guides the robotic group around obstacles while maintaining the group’s structural stability and efficiency. In addition, the decentralised nature of the model and its minimal communication requirements make it highly suitable for practical underwater tasks. This research not only provides an effective and deployable solution for the cooperative synchronisation of underwater robots but also offers valuable insights for understanding and designing other types of robotic swarm systems.