This paper considers the problem of formation control and obstacle avoidance for a group of non-holonomic mobile robots in a leader referenced model. Three important issues related to the multi robot formation namely distributed formation control framework based on switching control strategy, dynamic role switching algorithm and real time implementations are investigated. This switching control strategy combines together formation planning, navigation and active obstacle avoidance in a layered control framework composed of functional behaviors based on the relative motion states of the robots employed in the group. Dynamic role switching mechanism through the exchange of leadership is also incorporated in this work to tackle the problem of obstacle avoidance in the follower path. The proposed approach is validated through state based laboratory experiments using commercially available robot research platforms and the results obtained are discussed. © 2011 IEEE.