Skip to main content

Flocking and Rendezvous in Distributed Robotics

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

  • Authoritative yet accessible coverage of the fundamentals of distributed robotic systems
  • Provides readers with a framework and launch pad for further research
  • Familiarizes students with concrete robotic models by combining high-level concepts with illustrative figures and examples
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering (BRIEFSELECTRIC)

Part of the book sub series: SpringerBriefs in Control, Automation and Robotics (BRIEFSCONTROL)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (6 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This brief describes the coordinated control of groups of robots using only sensory input – and no direct external commands. Furthermore, each robot employs the same local strategy, i.e., there are no leaders, and the text also deals with decentralized control, allowing for cases in which no single robot can sense all the others.

One can get intuition for the problem from the natural world, for example, flocking birds.

How do they achieve and maintain their flying formation?

Recognizing their importance as the most basic coordination tasks for mobile robot networks, the brief details flocking and rendezvous. They are shown to be physical illustrations of emergent behaviors with global consensus arising from local interactions. The authors extend the consideration of these fundamental ideas to describe their operation in flying robots and prompt readers to pursue further research in the field. 

Flocking and Rendezvous in Distributed Robotics will provide graduate students a firm grounding in the subject, while also offering an authoritative reference work for more experienced workers seeking a brief but thorough treatment of an area that has rapidly gained in interest.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dept. of Electrical and Computer En., University of Toronto, TORONTO, Canada

    Bruce A. Francis

  • Dept. of Electrical & Computer Eng., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Manfredi Maggiore

About the authors

Manfredi Maggiore was born in Genoa, Italy. He received the “Laurea" degree in Electrical Engineering in 1996 from the University of Genoa and the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the Ohio State University, USA, in 2000. Since 2000 he has been with the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, where he is currently Professor. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Roma Tor Vergata (2001) and the University of Bologna (2007-2008). His research focuses on mathematical nonlinear control, and relies on methods from dynamical systems theory and differential geometry.

Bruce Francis was born in Toronto, Canada. He received all three degrees (BASc, MEng, PhD) from the University of Toronto. He has held teaching and research positions at Berkeley, Cambridge (UK), McGill, Concordia, Yale, and Waterloo, and finally the University of Toronto from 1984 to 2011. He retired in 2011 and since then has been an Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto. He is the author and co-author of seven books (counting An Introduction to Distributed Robotics). In 2015 he received the IEEE Control Systems Award.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us