Subframework-based Bearing Rigidity Maintenance Control in Multirobot Networks

2025-04-23

AI Summary

This paper addresses the coupled challenge of maintaining bearing rigidity while avoiding collisions in dynamic-topology multi-robot networks. We propose a decentralized bearing rigidity control method based on subframe decomposition: global bearing rigidity is mapped to the rigidity eigenvalues of local subframes, enabling coordination using only bearing-only measurements. Innovatively, we reformulate bearing rigidity through a subframe decomposition perspective, unifying rigidity maintenance and collision avoidance into a single eigenvalue-based optimization framework. A distributed gradient-based controller is designed to accommodate time-varying topologies and ensure system scalability. Experiments demonstrate that the method stably preserves rigidity, strictly guarantees collision avoidance, and restricts communication exclusively within subframes—thereby significantly improving real-time performance and scalability across diverse dynamic scenarios.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multi-Robot Systems
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization

Application Category

• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems

Abstract

This work presents a novel approach for analyzing and controlling bearing rigidity in multi-robot networks with dynamic topology. By decomposing the system's framework into subframeworks, we express bearing rigidity, a global property, as a set of local properties, with rigidity eigenvalues serving as natural local rigidity metrics. We propose a decentralized, scalable, gradient-based controller that uses only bearing measurements to execute mission-specific commands. The controller preserves bearing rigidity by maintaining rigidity eigenvalues above a threshold, and also avoids inter-robot collisions. Simulations confirm the scheme's effectiveness, with information exchange confined to subframeworks, underscoring its scalability and practicality.

Problem

• Analyzing bearing rigidity in dynamic multirobot networks
• Decentralized control using local bearing measurements
• Maintaining rigidity while avoiding robot collisions

Innovation

• Subframework decomposition for local rigidity metrics
• Decentralized gradient-based bearing-only controller
• Rigidity eigenvalue threshold for collision avoidance