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arXiv · 2504.18840

Distributed Lloyd-Based algorithm for uncertainty-aware multi-robot under-canopy flocking

Manuel Boldrer·Vit Kratky·Viktor Walter·Martin Saska
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Abstract

In this letter, we present a distributed algorithm for flocking in complex environments that operates at constant altitude, without explicit communication, no a priori information about the environment, and by using only on-board sensing and computation capabilities. We provide sufficient conditions to guarantee collision avoidance with obstacles and other robots without exceeding a desired maximum distance from a predefined set of neighbors (flocking or proximity maintenance constraint) during the mission. The proposed approach allows to operate in crowded scenarios and to explicitly deal with tracking errors and on-board sensing errors. The algorithm was verified through simulations with varying number of UAVs and also through numerous real-world experiments in a dense forest involving up to four UAVs.

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Manuel Boldrer, Vit Kratky, Viktor Walter, Martin Saska. 2025-04-26. Distributed Lloyd-Based algorithm for uncertainty-aware multi-robot under-canopy flocking. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.18840

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