A Dynamical System Approach to Decentralized Collision-free Autonomous Coordination of a Mobile Assistive Furniture Swarm

Abstract

In order to facilitate and assist the indoor mobilityof people with special needs, the classically static objects in theenvironment, such as furniture, can be rendered mobile. Theneed for efficient and safe autonomous coordination of a mobilefurniture swarm arises. We present a closed-form approachfor mobile furniture obstacle avoidance and navigation withinan indoor environment. The approach shows that each mobilefurniture agent, defined by a polygonal surface, does not collidewith any static or mobile obstacle (e.g., a person is movingaround). All controllable mobile furniture converges towardsa defined goal position and orientation. We showcase theapplication of this algorithm in simulation on mobile furniturefor smart environments. Results demonstrate that the proposedmethod can coordinate a swarm of mobile furniture to get outof the way of a mobile agent representing a person with limitedmobility passing through the room while avoiding obstacles andconverging towards a predefined target pose.