Rule-Based Lloyd Algorithm for Multi-Robot Motion Planning and Control with Safety and Convergence Guarantees

Abstract: This paper presents a distributed rule-based Lloyd algorithm (RBL) for multi-robot motion planning and control. The main limitations of the basic Loyd-based algorithm (LB) concern deadlock issues and the failure to address dynamic constraints effectively. Our contribution is twofold. First, we show how RBL is able to provide safety and convergence to the goal region without relying on communication between robots, nor synchronization between the robots. We considered different dynamic constraints with control inputs saturation. Second, we show that the Lloyd-based algorithm (without rules) can be successfully used as a safety layer for learning-based approaches, leading to non-negligible benefits. We further prove the soundness, reliability, and scalability of RBL through extensive simulations, comparisons with the state of the art, and experimental validations on small-scale car-like robots, unicycle-like robots, omnidirectional robots, and aerial robots on the field.