Distributed Motion Planning for Multi-Robot Systems under Topological Constraints

This research introduces a distributed controller based on Model Predictive Control (MPC) to efficiently execute braid-based topological constraints in multi-robot systems. By using winding numbers as a proxy for topological invariants, the approach converts complex coordination patterns into continuous functions that can be tracked through local MPC problems. The method is validated in simulation and real-world experiments, showing improvements in execution speed and control effort compared to existing approaches.