Planar formation control using tensegrity structures and experiments

This paper presents a framework on how to achieve prescribed planar formations using the concept of tensegrity structures. Given a group of robots with desired formation shape, we first design the underlying interaction topology based on the Polygon Theorem, yielding a super stable structure along with the robots' configuration. Then some basic control laws are introduced for mobile robots to model the interplay relationship between the neighbouring nodes in a self-equilibrated tensegrity structure. To fully validate the effectiveness of the tensegrity-motivated formation control strategy, we carry out not only numerical simulations but also experiments on two types of mobile robot platforms, wheeled mobile robots and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).