A control-design-based solution to robotic ecology: Autonomy of achieving cooperative behavior from a high-level astronaut command

In this paper, we propose a cooperative control strategy for a group of robotic vehicles to achieve the specified task issued from a high-level astronaut command. The problem is mathematically formulated as designing the cooperative control for a general class of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) dynamical systems in canonical form with arbitrary but finite relative degrees such that the outputs of the overall system converge to the explicitly given steady state. The proposed cooperative control for individual vehicle only need to use the sensed and communicated outputs information from its local neighboring vehicles. No fixed leader and time-invariant communication networks are assumed among vehicles. Particularly, a set of less-restrictive conditions on the connectivity of the sensor/communication networks are established, under which it is rigorously proven by using the newly found nice properties of the convergence of sequences of row stochastic matrices that the cooperative objective of the overall system can be achieved. Simulation results for a group of vehicles achieving a target and surrounding a specified object in formation are provided to support the proposed approach in this paper