Multi-Agent Obstacle Avoidance Using Velocity Obstacles and Control Barrier Functions
Alejandro Sánchez-Roncero, Rafael I. Cabral Muchacho, Petter Ögren
Abstract
Velocity Obstacles (VO) methods form a paradigm for collision avoidance strategies among moving obstacles and agents. While VO methods perform well in simple multi-agent environments, they do not guarantee safety and can show overly conservative behavior in common situations. In this paper, we propose to combine a VO strategy for guidance with a Control Barrier Function approach for safety, which overcomes the overly conservative behavior of VOs and formally guarantees safety. We validate our method in a baseline comparison study, using second-order integrator and car-like dynamics. Results support that our method outperforms the baselines with respect to path smoothness, collision avoidance, and success rates.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{icra2025_multiagentobstac,
title = {Multi-Agent Obstacle Avoidance Using Velocity Obstacles and Control Barrier Functions},
author = {Alejandro Sánchez-Roncero and Rafael I. Cabral Muchacho and Petter Ögren},
booktitle = {ICRA 2025},
year = {2025}
}