A unified Lloyd-based framework for multi-agent collective behaviours

Different authors have addressed a number of problems in the area of distributed control proposing convincing solutions to specific problems such as static coverage, dynamic coverage/exploration, rendezvous, flocking, formation control. However, a major limitation of problem-specific approaches is a fundamental lack of flexibility when the group meets unexpected conditions and has to change its goal on the fly. In this paper, we show that a large class of distributed control problems can be cast into a general framework based on the adoption of the Lloyd methodology. The adoption of a unified framework enables efficient solutions for the specific problems guaranteeing at the same time important safety and functional properties and a large degree of flexibility in the execution of group tasks. The paper sets the theoretical basis for this development and proves the efficacy of the proposed solutions through extensive simulations and experimental results.