Basic Control Algorithm for Parallel Formation of Multi-mining Robots

This paper proposes a formation control method by which multi-mining robots maintain a specified formation and follow a path. To secure the path tracking performance, a pure-pursuit algorithm is considered for each individual robot, and to minimize the deviation from the reference path, speed reduction in the steering motion is added. For the formation, in which two robots are parallel in a lateral direction, the robots track the specified path at a constant distance. In this way, the Leader-Follower method is adopted and the following robot knows the position and heading angle of the leader robot. Through the experimental test using two ground vehicle models, the performance is verified.