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A distributed linear formation control strategy based on the complex Laplacian matrix is employed, which enables the robot agents to converge into a similar formation of the desired formation, and the size and orientation of the formation are determined by the positions of two leaders. Additionally, in order to ensure that all robot agents in the formation move at a common velocity, the distributed control approach also includes a velocity consensus component. Based on the realization of similar formation control of a multi-robot system, the path navigation algorithm is combined with it to realize the global navigation of the system as a whole. Furthermore, a controller enabling the scalability of the formation size is introduced to enhance the overall maneuverability of the system in specific scenarios like narrow corridors. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e25111536","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,13]],"date-time":"2023-11-13T02:02:42Z","timestamp":1699840962000},"page":"1536","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Distributed Formation Control of Multi-Robot Systems with Path Navigation via Complex Laplacian"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Xiru","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electronic Engineering and Automation, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"}]},{"given":"Rili","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electronic Engineering and Automation, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2140-4381","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuchong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electronic Engineering and Automation, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"}]},{"given":"Jiansheng","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of AI and Information Processing, Education Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hechi University, Hechi 546300, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109813","DOI":"10.1016\/j.automatica.2021.109813","article-title":"Distributed formation maneuver control by manipulating the complex Laplacian","volume":"132","year":"2021","journal-title":"Automatica"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"990","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cja.2019.12.003","article-title":"Cooperative guidance strategy for multiple hypersonic gliding vehicles system","volume":"33","author":"Yu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Chin. 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