Coordinated Dynamic Load Distribution for Multi-Robot Collaborative Towing System

Abstract

A closed-kinematic chain composed of multi-robot manipulators used to tow a common object is presented. The generalized dynamic equation is given by use of the Newton-Euler principle,and an efficient real-time dynamic load distribution method is studied for the multi-robot collaborative towing system.Subject to the bearing capacity of each robot manipulator,the load distribution principle for the system is given by a linear weighting algorithm that can make the internal force on the mass center of the object limited.Subsequently,according to the expected trajectory of the object,the analytical formulation of the dynamic load distribution for the system is attained,and the expected operating force of each robot manipulator is calculated and obtained.Finally,three ABB robot manipulators are used to build a towing stand,that can validate the proposed load distribution method.The results can serve as the foundation for further research on load distribution problem of mobile multi-robot collaborative towing system.