Shape Formation Control Based on Task Swapping of Multi-Agent Systems

The current methods of shape formation are mainly divided into centralized and distributed methods. Centralized methods have been studied for many years, in which each agent is assigned tasks through a central controller. Aimed at the problems of single point of failure and poor scalability in centralized methods, distributed methods have been widely discussed in recent years. In the distributed case, a fully distributed shape formation algorithm using local task swapping in discrete space was recently suggested. In this paper, we extend the algorithm to continuous space. To implement the algorithm, we have made improvements in allocation methods and motion control. Each agent dynamically selects a target during the moving process according to the principle of minimizing the total movement distance and convergence time as much as possible, enabling the agent swarm to complete the construction of a specified figure. Finally, the simulations of various numbers of agents verify the algorithm's feasibility and efficiency.