Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.Cp.

Degree Name

MS in Computer Engineering (M.S.C.P.)

Degree Granting Department

Computer Science and Engineering

Major Professor

Alfredo Weitzenfeld, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Yu Sun, Ph.D.

Committee Member

John Murray-Bruce, Ph.D.

Keywords

Autonomous Mobile Robots, Bio-Robotics, Obstacle Avoidance, Robotic Formations

Abstract

Observations in biological formation from nature likes flocks of birds, herds of mammals and packs of wolves have inspired the innovation of robotic architectures. This thesis presents an approach that aims to use robotic systems to mimic leader-follower behaviors in the navigation and formation of sparse and dense environments. The goal of this work is to extend and further analyze the original work of Weitzenfeld et al [3] to evaluate new swarm and pack based multi-robot architectures with the inclusion of obstacle avoidance and variations in group formations. The multiple robot architecture is based off a wolf pack with a defined 'alpha' which acts as the leader and defined 'betas', which act as followers. The ‘alpha wolf’ will have the multiple ‘beta wolves’ follow in formation behind the lead robot, keeping track of a member of the group and maintaining a set angle and distance while performing obstacle avoidance, staying in formation, and performing speed adjustment. Variations in formation behaviors being analyzed include: (1) beta wolves following the alpha robot, (2) beta robot following the closest neighboring robot, and (3) robots following the same robot identified since the beginning. Experiments are performed in simulation, using Webots, to analyze robot formations,

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