Swarm robotic systems utilize collective behaviour to achieve goals that might be too complex for a lone entity, but become attainable with localized communication and collective decision making. In this paper, a behaviour-based distributed approach to shape formation is proposed. Flocking into strategic formations is observed in migratory birds and fish to avoid predators and also for energy conservation. The formation is maintained throughout long periods without collapsing and is advantageous for communicating within the flock. Similar behaviour can be deployed in multi-agent systems to enhance coordination within the swarm. Existing methods for formation control are either dependent on the size and geometry of the formation or rely on maintaining the formation with a single reference in the swarm (the leader). These methods are not resilient to failure and involve a high degree of deformation upon obstacle encounter before the shape is recovered again. To improve the performance, artificial force-based interaction amongst the entities of the swarm to maintain shape integrity while encountering obstacles is elucidated.

翻译：群体机器人系统利用集体行为来实现单个实体可能过于复杂的目标，但通过局部通信和集体决策变得可行。本文提出了一种基于行为的分布式形状形成方法。候鸟和鱼类通过编队策略性集结来躲避捕食者并节省能量，这种编队能够长时间维持而不瓦解，并有利于群体内的通信。类似的行为可应用于多智能体系统以增强群体内的协调性。现有的编队控制方法要么依赖于编队的大小和几何形状，要么通过群体中的单一参考点（领导者）来维持编队。这些方法对故障的鲁棒性较差，且在遇到障碍物时，编队会发生较大变形才能恢复形状。为提升性能，本文阐述了基于人工力的群体间交互机制，以在遇到障碍物时保持形状的完整性。