Cooperative Control of an Autonomous Floating Modular Structure Without Communication: Extended Abstract

This paper presents a smart modular structure that is able to cooperatively track desired trajectories, orientations, and velocities in a planar water environment without direct communication among modules. A leader in the structure can steer the whole group to these predefined states by applying a relatively small force and torque, whose effect is amplified by the follower robots as they match their forces and torques to the leader's. We propose a decentralized force and torque controller for each follower which requires only local measurements without communication. Our approach is verified by simulations with 65 robots and experiments with three robotic boats successfully tracking the desired trajectory, orientations, and velocities in a swimming pool.