Experiments of Obstacles and Collision Avoidance with a Distributed Multi-Robot System

In this paper we describe preliminary experiments of obstacle and collision avoidance with a distributed multi-robot system composed of grounded mobile robots equipped with laser range finder. We implemented a localization algorithm to make the robots avail autonomous navigation in indoor environments, and then we apply a behavior based technique, namely the Null-Space based Behavioral control, to make the robots navigate avoiding collision among themselves and with obstacles detected with the laser. Several tests have been performed using a team of up to four Khepera III mobile robots equipped with Hokuyo URG laser range finder and communicating via ad-hoc wireless network.