Yimei Chen, Huanhuan Cheng and Baoquan Li
The purpose of this study is to propose a path-planning strategy based on the velocity-virtual spring method to realize collision-free tasks in dynamic environments and further…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose a path-planning strategy based on the velocity-virtual spring method to realize collision-free tasks in dynamic environments and further improve the effect.
Design/methodology/approach
By considering factors such as the relative velocity and direction of dynamic obstacles, the repulsive force of the robot is improved, thereby enhancing the adaptability of the strategy and achieving flexible and effective avoidance against dynamic obstacles. The attraction formula has been designed to allow the robot to have better smooth changes and higher gradients near the target, helping robots better reach the target and follow formations. Moreover, to meet the demands of the various stages during the driving process, the null space behavioral control is used to solve multi-task conflict problems and strengthen formation coordination and control.
Findings
Comparison of the planning path and formation effects through simulation and physical experiments, the results of this study show that the algorithm proposed can successfully maintain formation stability and plan smooth and safe paths in static or dynamic environments.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a path-planning strategy based on the velocity-virtual spring method to plan collision-free paths for formation in dynamic environments.
Details
Keywords
Yimei Chen, Yixin Wang, Baoquan Li and Tohru Kamiya
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new velocity prediction navigation algorithm to develop a conflict-free path for robots in dynamic crowded environments. The algorithm…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new velocity prediction navigation algorithm to develop a conflict-free path for robots in dynamic crowded environments. The algorithm BP-prediction and reciprocal velocity obstacle (PRVO) combines the BP neural network for velocity PRVO to accomplish dynamic collision avoidance.
Design/methodology/approach
This presented method exhibits innovation by anticipating ahead velocities using BP neural networks to reconstruct the velocity obstacle region; determining the optimized velocity corresponding to the robot’s scalable radius range from the error generated by the non-holonomic robot tracking the desired trajectory; and considering acceleration constraints, determining the set of multi-step reachable velocities of non-holonomic robot in the space of velocity variations.
Findings
The method is validated using three commonly used metrics of collision rate, travel time and average distance in a comparison between simulation experiments including multiple differential drive robots and physical experiments using the Turtkebot3 robot. The experimental results show that our method outperforms other RVO extension methods on the three metrics.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors propose navigation algorithms capable of adaptively selecting the optimal speed for a multi-robot system to avoid robot collisions during dynamic crowded interactions.
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Keywords
Hui Xiong, Xiuzhi Shi, JinZhen Liu, Yimei Chen and Jiaxing Wang
The formation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm plays a critical role in numerous applications, such as unmanned agriculture, environmental monitoring and cooperative…
Abstract
Purpose
The formation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm plays a critical role in numerous applications, such as unmanned agriculture, environmental monitoring and cooperative fencing. Meanwhile, the self-organized swarm model exhibits excellent performance in amorphous formation flight, and its collective motion pattern displays great potential in dense obstacle avoidance. The paper aims to realize the formation maintenance of UAVs while combining the advantage of the self-organized swarm model in avoiding dense obstacles. Thereby enhancing the flexibility, adaptability and safety of UAV swarms in dense and unpredictable scenarios.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a self-organized formation (SOF) swarm model with a constrained coordination mechanism is proposed. A global information-based formation rule is designed to flexibly maintain the formation. A constraint coordination mechanism is designed to resolve the problem of constraint conflicts between formation rules and self-organized behavior rules. The model introduces a new obstacle avoidance rule to prevent deadlocks. Extensive experiments including simulations, real flights and comparative experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the model.
Findings
The simulation results show that SOF swarm enables the formation elastically to dense obstacles. Compared to the Vasarhelyi model, swarm performance metrics are improved. For example, the task completion time of SOF swarm is reduced by 16%, 28% and 39% across the three obstacle densities, and the order of SOF swarm is improved by 4%, 13% and 18%, respectively. The proposed model is also validated with a swarm of seven quadcopters that can successfully navigate and maintain formation in a real-world indoor environment with dense obstacles. Video at: https://youtu.be/V8hYgOHxWls.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed formation rule is based on global information construction, which presents challenges in terms of communication overhead in distributed systems.
Originality/value
An SOF swarm model is proposed, which achieves formation maintenance by incorporating formation rule and constraint coordination mechanism and improves obstacle avoidance performance by introducing a new obstacle avoidance rule. After real UAVs verification, the model is feasible for practical deployment and provides a new solution to the formation flight and formation maintenance problems encountered in dense environments.
Details
Keywords
The forest products processing industry is a key component of the forestry economy, and the level of companies’ operating efficiency directly affects its profitability and market…
Abstract
Purpose
The forest products processing industry is a key component of the forestry economy, and the level of companies’ operating efficiency directly affects its profitability and market competitiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to deeply study the operation status of forest product processing industry, this paper takes the panel data of 70 listed forest product processing companies from 2015 to 2022 as the basis, and adopts BBC, CCR and DEA-Malmquist models to measure the operating efficiency of these companies. Meanwhile, the Tobit model is applied to deeply explore the impact of innovation input on operating efficiency.
Findings
The results of the paper show that: (1) the overall operating efficiency of listed forest product processing companies performs well, and the improvement of technology level promotes the growth of total factor productivity; (2) innovation input plays a significant positive role in listed forest product processing companies, which positively affects the operating efficiency.
Practical implications
A scientific and reasonable evaluation of the operating efficiency of listed forest product companies is of great practical significance to the development of the forestry industry The study of forest product processing industry is of key significance to the social economy.
Originality/value
This paper explores the improvement of production and operation efficiency of forest products processing enterprises for the purpose of in-depth analysis of the current situation of China's forest products processing enterprises, which is conducive to improving the innovation and operation efficiency of China's forest products processing enterprises, and realizing the high-quality development of China's forest products processing industry.