Multi-robot cooperative formation for overweight object transportation

Abstract

This paper presents cooperative formation to transport an overweight object by means of multi-robot. Previous studies on object transportation have mainly focused on multi-robot coordination and architecture. However, successful object transportation is strongly related to the robot formation in the real world. Based on this need, we suggest what is termed the pusher-puller formation, which relies on pushing and pulling (or grasping) behaviors. The pusher pushes an object from behind, and the puller pulls it from the front. This formation was more robust and stable than others: straight-line and symmetrical formation. Real experiments are presented to test the validity and practicality of the proposed approach.