Optimal Control of a Swarming Multi-agent System through Guidance of a Leader-Agent

Abstract Control of a large group of individuals that form a collective has applications in the fields of swarm robotics, biology, economics and in control of human crowd motion. In this study, a leader-agent guides a group of autonomous agents with limited information to desired objectives. The basic idea of the leader-agent concept is that only the leader-agent knows the predetermined objective of the group and the environment. The leader tries by optimal interventions to steer the entire swarm towards objectives. For this purpose, we utilize an optimal control strategy. Possible objectives for the group include moving to a target position, tracking of a given trajectory, and avoiding collisions with obstacles in the two-dimensional space.