Cooperative Transportation of Aload Using Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

Abstract

This paper presents an application of multi-robot system using nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots. These robots cooperate with each other to transport a single load which is carried without any rigid connections. Each mobile robot has a mechanical platform which consists of compliant structures to hold the load during transportation. Instead of direct communication, physical interactions are exploited as the main way of information exchange among the mobile robots. Local sensors are utilized to sense physical changes which are needed for feedback control of the mobile robots. The control system is fully decentralized and it supportsscalabilityofthemulti-robot system.Thedesigned control solutionwas tested extensivelyinsimulationand experiments were carried out to show the effectiveness of the controller.