A survey on passing-through control of multi-robot systems in cluttered environments

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2025.000095

Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2025, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (4): 1037-1056.doi: 10.23919/JSEE.2025.000095

• CONTROL THEORY AND APPLICATION • Previous Articles

A survey on passing-through control of multi-robot systems in cluttered environments

Yan GAO¹^,²(), Chenggang BAI¹(), Quan QUAN¹^,*()

¹ School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
² Tianjin Key Laboratory of Intelligent Control of Electrical Equipment, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China

Received:2023-11-03 Online:2025-08-18 Published:2025-09-04
Contact: Quan QUAN E-mail:buaa_gaoyan@buaa.edu.cn;bcg@buaa.edu.cn;qq_buaa@buaa.edu.cn
About author:
GAO Yan was born in 1994. He received his B.S. degree in detection guidance and control techniques from Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China in 2017, and Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering from Beihang University, Beijing, China in 2023. He is currently a lecturer with the School of Control Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China. His research interests include multiagent systems, swarm intelligence, virtual tube control and multicopter control. E-mail: buaa_gaoyan@buaa.edu.cn

BAI Chenggang was born in 1965. He received his M.S. degree in statistics from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, in 1990, and Ph.D. degree in control theory and control engineering from Zhejiang University, China. In November 2001, he joined the faculty of the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, China, where he has been a professor since July 2009. His research interests include reliable flight control, software reliability, and software testing. E-mail: bcg@buaa.edu.cn

QUAN Quan was born in 1981. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in control science and engineering from Beihang University, Beijing, China, in 2004, and 2010, respectively. Since 2022, he has been a professor with Beihang University in control science and engineering, where he is currently with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering. His research interests include reliable flight control, swarm intelligence, vision-based navigation, and health assessment.E-mail: qq_buaa@buaa.edu.cn

Abstract

Abstract:

This survey presents a comprehensive review of various methods and algorithms related to passing-through control of multi-robot systems in cluttered environments. Numerous studies have investigated this area, and we identify several avenues for enhancing existing methods. This survey describes some models of robots and commonly considered control objectives, followed by an in-depth analysis of four types of algorithms that can be employed for passing-through control: leader-follower formation control, multi-robot trajectory planning, control-based methods, and virtual tube planning and control. Furthermore, we conduct a comparative analysis of these techniques and provide some subjective and general evaluations.

Key words: multi-robot system, passing-through control, formation, trajectory planning, virtual tube

Yan GAO, Chenggang BAI, Quan QUAN. A survey on passing-through control of multi-robot systems in cluttered environments[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2025, 36(4): 1037-1056.

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Algorithm	Algorithm classification	Computation demand	Communication demand	Number of supported robots	Theoretical completeness
Formation control	−	--	+	○	++
Multi-robot trajectory planning	Centralized	++	++	--	○
Multi-robot trajectory planning	Distributed	+	++	-	○
Control-based method	Flocking control	--	-	++	○
	Vector field control	--	-	++	++
	Centralized CBF	+	○	-	+
	Distributed CBF	○	-	++	+
Virtual tube planning and control	−	--	-	++	++

Assumption	Possible option
Self-observation position	Precise, uncertain (communication uncertainty, IMU drift)
Relative position	Precise, uncertain; omnidirectional field of view, limited field of view
Virtual tube information	Fully known in advance, gradually improved during the process
Type of virtual tube	Regular (straight-line, trapezoid, curve), irregular (connected quadrangle); open, closed; line, tree, net
Type of virtual tube boundary	Hard constraint, soft constraint, adaptive constraint
Obstacle inside virtual tube	Yes (single, multiple; static, dynamic), no
Type of robot	Multicopter, fixed-wing UAV, autonomous road vehicle, USV, UUV
Control objective	Safety, efficiency, connectivity maintenance, target encirclement, target search

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A survey on passing-through control of multi-robot systems in cluttered environments

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