Distributed collision-free coverage control of mobile robots with consensus-based approach

In this paper, we present a novel distributed coverage control scheme with collision avoidance based on consensus approach and potential field. The computational geometry of spatial structures is exploited using centroidal Voronoi tessellation and the locational optimization problem is introduced in a distributed fashion. By using the interaction term of Voronoi neighbour, a distributed protocol is proposed based on consensus strategy to solve the extended locational optimization problem. Distributed potential field is then applied for collision avoidance of the robotic group in an unknown environment and the performance of the proposed control strategy is guaranteed by using Lyapunov stability analysis. Finally, theoretical results are validated through simulations on a group of mobile robots.