Research development of multi-robot formation control

Multi-robot formation control is one of the most important research directions in the field of robotics. In this paper, the definition and characteristics of multi-robot formation control were given and several traditional formation control methods were introduced, such as leader-follower method, behavior-based method, artificial potential method, and virtual structure method, and their advantages and disadvantages were stated. The era in which these traditional control methods are applied is termed as "Former Formation Control Era" (FFCE). Following the development of multi-agent theory, the multi-agent technology has become popular and is considered as an efficient solution to the multi-robot system formation control problem, and it has generated several favorable results. The era in which this technology is adopted is termed the "Post Formation Control Era" (PFCE). In this era, the multi-agent theory has gained much attention following the developments in the communication technology, computation technology, and artificial intelligence technology. The FFCE emphasizes that multiple robots are able to accomplish complex tasks that are unachievable by a single robot, while forming a desired formation, which improves the efficiency of a required task as well as shorten the completion time of the task. However, the PFCE emphasizes much more cost-effectiveness, synchronization, and coordination than the FFCE. Meanwhile, the PFCE does not pay much attention to the task assignment for each individual, but assigns each sub-task autonomously to each individual on the basis of simple rules, and there exists no "irreplaceable" individual. Finally, this paper presented the basic steps for solving the formation control problem using multi-agent technologies.