Formation control of robot swarm based on community division and multilevel topology design via pining

In order to solve the problem which robot swarm isn't easy to form and maintain stable formations, a formation control algorithm based on community division and multilevel topology is proposed by introducing the ideas of hierarchical clustering and pining control. Firstly, based on the hierarchical clustering algorithm, a large group of robots is divided into some communities and a pining robot is found out in each community. Secondly, a multilevel topology is designed as the standard shape of robots in each community. Finally, a controller is presented to finish formation and collision avoidance. The local minimum and the instable formation direction of problems in the controller are solved simultaneously. The experimental results show the validity of the algorithm.