Reactive Clustering Method for Platooning Autonomous Mobile Robots

A system state is changed to congestion as the number of autonomous mobile robots is increased. Eventually, jams of robots are prone to be formed. Jams have a profound influence on robots' behavior. Even in this state, therefore, robots are required to solve jams and move efficiently. For this challenge, adaptive cruise control (ACC) suitable for a vehicle platoon is applied to robots. For the platooning robots based on ACC, a reactive clustering method using local information among adjacent robots is proposed. These robots are thus clustered into small platoons responding to a variety of changing circumstances. Through simulation experiments, several scenarios in order for robots to organize clusters are compared and the reasonability of the clustering method for the robot platooning is evaluated. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the clustering method is discussed in comparison to a robot coordination methodology that requires global information.