Distributed cooperative obstacle avoidance and formation reconfiguration for multiple quadrotors: Theory and experiment

With the increasing demand for the application of multiple quadrotors, improving their autonomous flight ability in unknown environments has become one of the research focuses in the robot field. In this paper, a distributed obstacle avoidance controller is proposed with three elaborate control terms: obstacle avoidance term, inter-robot collision avoidance term, and formation reconstruction. Firstly, an online local obstacle avoidance algorithm is designed based on the obstacle avoidance behavior of the pigeon flock and potential field theory. Then, inspired by the spring-damped system, an inter-robot collision avoidance algorithm is designed based on Hooke's law with damping. Furthermore, based on the consensus theory and local neighboring information, a distributed formation reconstruction controller is designed. Finally, the simulation and quantitative analysis are carried out in Gazebo simulation platform. For practical application, an outdoor experimental platform with six quadrotors is constructed to verify the practicability of the proposed method. The results show that the three control terms are compatible with each other to achieve obstacle avoidance and can achieve formation control for quadrotors.