Motion Planning for Multi-robot Coordination*

In this paper, we investigate the problem of task oriented motion planning of multirobot formation. By combining motion planning with task, the representation space model of multi-robot formation is built to characterize the process of formation navigation. Based on that, a hierarchical structure is proposed to ensure so that formation constraint and collision avoidance is maintained during the task realization. The problem of whether a task is feasible is translated to completeness of planning algorithms in representation space. The properties of different planning algorithms are evaluated. The simulation of multi-robot formation navigation in a warehouse environment is presented to prove that the formation constraint and collision avoidance can be maintained with the proposed approach. Moreover, by incorporating the task oriented motion planning framework, it is possible to turn an infeasible task into a feasible one while ensuring that formation can reach the target position.