Distributed Multi Robot Reactive Navigation

In many applications, Multi-Robot Systems are able to perform tasks which cannot be accomplished by a single robot. However, when neither a central planner is available nor explicit communication is allowed, each agent must rely on some sort of local navigation strategy for computing its trajectory, thus increasing the probability of getting trapped into deadlock situations. The navigation problem for multiple agents become even harder whenever they have an arbitrary shape, since problems arise related to the encumbrance and the orientation of each agent. In this paper we extend to MRS the Micronavigation algorithm, a reactive approach to navigation which has been successfully employed for the navigation of a single agent in a two-dimensional Work Space. The result is a fully distributed algorithm which can be employed for the navigation of an arbitrary number of autonomous agents with arbitrary shapes.