Cooperation of Autonomous Mobile Robots with Different Maneuverability in Transportation

Abstract

This study proposes a cooperative transportation system, which uses multiple autonomous mobile robots with different maneuverability cooperating together to transport a rigid object. The system uses a leader-follower formation control strategy, by using the non-holonomic leading the way while the holonomic AMRs follow. The object is assumed as a constraint between the robots, and the cooperation is tested using a designed destination point, in which each follower robot receives commands from the leader sent through the laptop. To walk straight, all robots receive the same command, but for rotating, leader robot must evaluate the command for the follower robots by the designed method. The Robot Operating System (ROS) is used for the development of the robots and for standard communication. The proposed method is validated through simulation tasks using autonomous mobile robots with different wheel types. The results of the experiments have resulted and supported that holonomic and non-holonomic robots being able to cooperate with each other’s in transportation.