Distributed Lloyd-Based algorithm for uncertainty-aware multi-robot under-canopy flocking
Abstract
In this letter, we present a distributed algorithm for flocking in complex environments that operates at constant altitude, without explicit communication, no a priori information about the environment, and by using only on-board sensing and computation capabilities. We provide sufficient conditions to guarantee collision avoidance with obstacles and other robots without exceeding a desired maximum distance from a predefined set of neighbors (flocking or proximity maintenance constraint) during the mission. The proposed approach allows to operate in crowded scenarios and to explicitly deal with tracking errors and on-board sensing errors. The algorithm was verified through simulations with varying number of UAVs and also through numerous real-world experiments in a dense forest involving up to four UAVs.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2504.18840,
title = {Distributed Lloyd-Based algorithm for uncertainty-aware multi-robot under-canopy flocking},
author = {Manuel Boldrer and Vit Kratky and Viktor Walter and Martin Saska},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.18840},
year = {2026}
}