New reactive behaviors that implement formations in multi-robot teams are presented and evaluated. These motor schemas, or primitive behaviors, for relative positional maintenance are integrated with existing navigational behaviors to help robots complete navigational tasks while in formation. Four formations, based on existing military doctrine (Army 1986), and three methods for determining correct vehicle position are investigated. The performance of a group of four simulated robots using this technique is evaluated quantitatively for both turning and for navigation across an obstacle field. These team behaviors will ultimately be fielded on four military vehicles a.~ part of ARPA’s UGV Demo II program.
['Tucker R. Balch', 'Ronald C. Arkin']
Motor Schema-based Formation Control for Multiagent Robot Teams