Formation Control of Multi-agent System with Local Interaction and Artificial Potential Field

A novel local interaction control method (LICM) is proposed in this paper to realize the formation control of multi-agent system (MAS). A local interaction leader follower (LILF) structure is provided by coupling the advantages of information consensus and leader follower frame, the agents can obtain the state information of the leader by interacting with their neighbours, which will reduce the communication overhead of the system and the dependence on a single node of the topology. In addition, the artificial potential field (APF) method is introduced to achieve obstacle avoidance and collision avoidance between agents. Inspired by the stress response of animals, a stress response mechanism-artificial potential field (SRM-APF) is proposed, which will be triggered when the local minimum problem of APF occurs. Ultimately, the simulation experiments of three formation shapes, including triangular formation, square formation and hexagonal formation, validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.