Coordination of multiple mobile manipulators

Abstract

We present a novel modeling framework and control algorithms for multiple mobile manipulators cooperatively grasping and transporting an object. The planning and control tasks are decentralized, and the framework explicitly incorporates the protocols used to coordinate the robots in the team. The framework is flexible in the sense that it scales with the number of robots and controllers. Preliminary experimental results for teams of two-three robots are shown, while simulation results are used to illustrate the extensions of our approach to larger teams.