Map-based control of distributed robot helpers for transporting an object in cooperation with a human

Abstract

We propose a decentralized motion control algorithm of multiple mobile robots transporting a single object in cooperation with a human based on a path generated from an environment. Each mobile robot is controlled as if it has a wheel with a free rotational joint and moves along the path based on the intentional force applied by a human. The proposed decentralized control algorithm is experimentally applied to the omni-directional mobile robots referred to as DR Helpers. Experimental results illustrate the validity of the proposed control algorithm.