Ergodic Control implementation

This code implements the HEDAC and SMC ergodic control strategies.

• HEDAC 2D
• SMC 2D

Credits for the original version of the code:
https://gitlab.idiap.ch/rli/robotics-codes-from-scratch/-/tree/master

1. Installation

Download the code and install the dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/invidia0/ergodic_control.git

cd ergodic_control

python3 -m venv .env

source .env/bin/activate

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

It's a good practice to create a virtual environment to avoid conflicts with other projects.

2. Quick run

• HEDAC 2D

python3 hedac.py

• SMC 2D

python3 smc.py

Explanation (TBD)

Parameters

Parameter	Description
$\alpha$	Diffusion $\rightarrow$ low values slower diffusion
$\beta$	Convective heat flow $\rightarrow$ governs cooling over the whole area (increase to cool faster the area)
$\gamma$	Local cooling of agents $\rightarrow$ governs the collision avoidance (increase to push away agents)

HEDAC

The HEDAC implementation refers to the paper:

[1] S. Ivić, B. Crnković and I. Mezić, "Ergodicity-Based Cooperative Multiagent Area Coverage via a Potential Field," in IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 47, no. 8, pp. 1983-1993, Aug. 2017, doi: 10.1109/TCYB.2016.2634400.

SMC

The SMC implementation refers to the paper:

[2] George Mathew, Igor Mezić, "Metrics for ergodicity and design of ergodic dynamics for multi-agent systems," Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, Volume 240, Issues 4–5, 2011, Pages 432-442, ISSN 0167-2789, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physd.2010.10.010.