Curvature-Constrained and Constant-Speed Distributed Simultaneous Arrival Control for Multi-Robot Systems

2026-07-16

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge of achieving synchronized arrival among multiple robots operating under constant speed, bounded curvature constraints, and distributed control. To this end, the authors propose a distributed switching control strategy based on a max-consensus protocol. By integrating the geometric properties of Dubins paths with optimal control principles and introducing a virtual time variable, they design a hybrid control law that combines optimal control with saturated proportional control. This law drives each robot to align its state with the maximum virtual time within its neighborhood, thereby ensuring simultaneous arrival. The approach is the first to achieve distributed synchronous arrival under curvature and constant-speed constraints, attaining theoretically optimal arrival times in specific scenarios while offering scalability and low communication overhead. Its effectiveness and robustness are validated through both simulations and physical experiments.

Abstract

The simultaneous arrival of multiple mobile robots at a target point is crucial for cooperation tasks such as cooperative encirclement, disaster relief, and environmental monitoring. Although the simultaneous arrival problem itself is already complex, the problem becomes more challenging when there are constraints on the robot trajectory curvatures and the speeds are required to be constant (possibly different for different robots), and the control law for robots needs to be distributed. These constraints are typical for a multi-robot system consisting of, e.g., fixed-wing UAVs. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a distributed switching control method based on the maximum consensus protocol. By exploiting the geometric properties of Dubins paths along with optimization principles, a virtual time variable is introduced, and a hybrid control law that combines optimal control with saturated proportional control is designed. Under the proposed control law, each robot is driven to approach the maximum virtual time among its neighbors, thereby achieving simultaneous arrival under some mild conditions. Furthermore, we prove that in certain cases the proposed method attains a theoretically optimal arrival time. The approach is scalable and real-time, with low communication overhead. Its effectiveness and robustness are validated through extensive simulations and experiments.

Problem

• simultaneous arrival
• curvature-constrained
• constant-speed
• distributed control
• multi-robot systems

Innovation

• distributed control
• simultaneous arrival
• curvature-constrained trajectories
• constant-speed motion
• Dubins paths