Cooperative Transportation by Multiple Autonomous Non-holonomic Mobile Robots (original) (raw)

Formation-based cooperative transportation by a group of non-holonomic mobile robots

Formation-based cooperative transportation by a group of non-holonomic mobile robots, 2010

In this study, motion planning and control scheme for a cooperative transportation system, which consists of a single object and multiple autonomous non-holonomic mobile robots, is proposed. Virtual leader-follower formation control strategy is used for the cooperative transportation system. The object is assumed as the virtual leader of the system and the robots carrying the object are considered as follower robots. A smooth path is generated by considering the constraints of the virtual robot. The origin of the coordinate system attached to the center of gravity of the object tracks the generated path. A path for each follower robot is generated to keep the formation structure. The follower robots track their paths. A communication framework is used for the messaging between robots, and asymptotically stable tracking control is used for trajectory tracking. The proposed method is verified with real applications and simulations using Pioneer P3-DX mobile robots and a single object. Keywords—cooperative transportation, motion planning, tracking control, formation, multiple robots Paper videos can be reached from this URL: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLENSkat0854v2a9-42vbagdJxYZlw5cu9

Formation-Based Control Scheme for Cooperative Transportation by Multiple Mobile Robots

Formation-based Control Scheme for Cooperative Transportation by Multiple Mobile Robots, 2015

Citation: Alpaslan Yufka, Metin Ozkan, Formation-Based Control Scheme for Cooperative Transportation by Multiple Mobile Robots, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2015, 12:120. ISSN 1729-8806. DOI: 10.5772/60972. Abstract: This paper presents a motion planning and control scheme for a cooperative transportation system comprising a single rigid object and multiple autonomous non-holonomic mobile robots. A leader-follower formation control strategy is used for the transportation system in which the object is assumed to be the virtual leader; the robots carrying the object are considered followers. A smooth trajectory between the current and desired locations of the object is generated by considering the constraints of the virtual leader. In the leader-follower approach, the origin of the coordinate system attached to the center of gravity of the object, which is known as the virtual leader, moves along the generated trajectory while the real robots, which are known as followers, maintain a desired distance and orientation to the leader. An asymptotically stable tracking controller is used for trajectory tracking. The proposed approach is verified by simulations and real applications using Pioneer P3-DX mobile robots. Paper videos can be reached from this URLs: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLENSkat0854tcWruhIrH2eqzc\_Vwc\_2Rm http://www.ai-robotlab.ogu.edu.tr/gallery-movies.htm

A Non-Contact Object Delivery System Using Leader-Follower Formation Control for Multi-Robots

International Journal of Applied Methods in Electronics and Computers, 2023

Rapid improvements in the area of multi-robot control algorithms pave the way to design and implement robotic swarms to deal with sophisticated tasks including intelligent object transportation systems. It is crucial to manage the structure of the numerous robots to behave like a whole body for task accomplishment. The leader-follower formation control approach offers a simple and reliable way of keeping the swarm formation in appropriate limits to cope with challenging tasks. Autonomous object transportation with multi-robot systems enjoy the benefits of the leader-follower formation control approach. However, most of the developed transportation systems achieve the task by locating the load onto the robots or by pushing the load in the means of a physical contact. These approaches may lead to a hardware or payload damage due to heavy loads or physical contacts respectively. In this study, a novel non-contact object delivery system is introduced for eliminating the drawbacks of physical contact between the robots and the payload. Permanent magnets are used for propulsion of the payload located on a cart with passive casters. The stability of the proposed multi-robot system is satisfied by a formation controller using potential functions method augmented with a cornering action sub-controller. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed system during a straight motion and cornering with the root mean square values of the distance between the robots as 1.46 × 10-4 [m] and 0.065 [m] respectively.

Implementation of Leader-Follower Formation Control of a Team of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

International Journal of Computers Communications & Control

A control method for a team of multiple mobile robots performing leader-follower formation by implementing computing, communication, and control technol-ogy is considered. The strategy expands the role of global coordinator system andcontrollers of multiple robots system. The global coordinator system creates no-collision trajectories of the virtual leader which is the virtual leader for all vehicles,sub-virtual leaders which are the virtual leader for pertinent followers, and virtualfollowers. The global coordinator system also implements role assignment algorithmto allocate the role of mobile robots in the formation. The controllers of the individualmobile robots have a task to track the assigned trajectories and also to avoid collisionamong the mobile robots using the artificial potential field algorithm. The proposedmethod is tested by experiments of three mobile robots performing leader-followerformation with the shape of a triangle. The experimental results show the robustness...

On the Control of a Leader-Follower Formation of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

2006

This paper deals with leader-follower formations of nonholonomic mobile robots. Formalizing the problem in a geometric framework, it is proposed a controller that is alternative to those existing in the literature. It is shown that the geometry of the formation imposes a bound on the maximum admissible curvature of leader trajectory. A peculiar characteristic of the proposed strategy is that the position of the followers is not fixed with respect to the leader reference frame but varies in suitable cones. The formation geometry adapts to the followers dynamics and this allows lower control effort with respect to other approaches based on rigid formations.

Distance-Based Formation Maneuvering of Non-Holonomic Wheeled Mobile Robot Multi-Agent System

IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2020

In this paper, finite-time distance-based formation maneuvering control of a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot multi-agent system in a leader-follower configuration is considered. The desired formation graph is assumed to be minimally and infinitesimally rigid, and only a subset of agents has access to the relative position and velocity of the leader. A distributed velocity estimator is employed by each agent to estimate the leader's velocity and therefore the swarm velocity in finite-time. A finite-time formation maneuvering algorithm is presented and it is proved that drives the agents to the desired formation and tracks the leader's velocity in finite-time. Moreover, it is demonstrated that both the velocity estimator and the controller can be implemented in the agents' local coordinate frames. Simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

Extension of Leader-Follower Behaviours for Wheeled Mobile Robots in Multirobot Coordination

Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2019

This paper presents the extension of leader-follower behaviours, for the case of a combined set of kinematic models of omnidirectional and differential-drive wheeled mobile robots. The control strategies are based on the decentralized measurements of distance and heading angles. Combining the kinematic models, the control strategies produce the standard and new mechanical behaviours related to rigid body or n-trailer approaches. The analysis is given in pairs of robots and extended to the case of multiple robots with a directed tree-shaped communication topology. Combining these behaviours, it is possible to make platoons of robots, as obtained from cluster space or virtual structure approaches, but now defined by local measurements and communication of robots. Numerical simulations and real-time experiments show the performance of the approach and the possibilities to be applied in multirobot tasks.

Formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots

2006 American Control Conference, 2006

In this paper, formation control of a group of nonholonomic wheeled robots are considered. By introducing a unified error of the formation and trajectory tracking, state feedback control laws are proposed for formation control with a desired trajectory. Graph theory and Lyapunov theory are used in the control design. After that, by introducing observers, output feedback control laws are also proposed for the formation control. Simulation study shows the proposed controllers are effective.

Coordinated Transportation of a Large Object by a Team of Three Robots

Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Multi-Agent Robotic Systems, 2006

Dynamical systems theory in this work is used as a theoretical language and tool to design a distributed control architecture for a team of three robots that must transport a large object and simultaneously avoid collisions with either static or dynamic obstacles. The robots have no prior knowledge of the environment. The dynamics of behavior is defined over a state space of behavior variables, heading direction and path velocity. Task constraints are modeled as attractors (i.e. asymptotic stable states) of the behavioral dynamics. For each robot, these attractors are combined into a vector field that governs the behavior. By design the parameters are tuned so that the behavioral variables are always very close to the corresponding attractors. Thus the behavior of each robot is controlled by a time series of asymptotical stable states. Computer simulations support the validity of the dynamical model architecture. forward/backward formation target leader H 1 H 2 turn formation column formation turn formation obstacle forward/backward formation 6 ν1 is a constant. Here equal to 3. 7 ν2 is a constant. Here equal to 9.