Sweeping the floor: moving multiple objects with multiple disc-shaped robots

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of transporting multiple objects in the plane with a team of disc-shaped robots. Using geometric properties of the objects, we present a method for computing positions of the robots that can kinematically constrain the objects to lie in a subset of the workspace. This computation is then used for deriving a motion plan of the robots for simultaneously pushing the objects to a given region. The approach is demonstrated in a simulation where a team of robots cooperatively sweep multiple objects that are scattered in a room to one of its sides.