Manipulation of a large object by multiple DR Helpers in cooperation with a human

Abstract

We propose a decentralized control algorithm of multiple robot helpers, called DR Helpers, which have been developed for manipulating a large object in cooperation with humans. In this algorithm, each robot is controlled as if it has a caster-like dynamics around a representative point attached to the object, and manipulation of a large or long object in cooperation with a human can be realized easily. The proposed control algorithm is experimentally applied to two DR Helpers and experimental results illustrate the validity of the proposed control algorithm.