A differential motion planning algorithm for controlling multi-robot systems handling a common object (Q2731427)

The purpose of the present paper is to treat the problem of motion planning of multi-robot systems aiming at moving large objects from an initial to a desired position-orientation under the rigidity assumption. The algorithm is based on the technique of Paljung and Yun (1995), which is properly extended to the multi-robot case. Single robot tasks can be performed by controlling the robot's end-effector, such as to follow a desired path without controlling the exact time at which the end-effector passes through the particular points on the trajectory. The orientation of the robots end-effector during the motion may also be irrelevant. This is not true in multi-robot systems, where, once the two or more end-effectors grasp the object, their relative positions and orientations with respect to each other must remain invariant during the entire operation. After presenting multi-robot kinematic equations and general kinematic constraints and dealing with the absolute and incremental motion equations, a planning algorithm is proposed. A full study of a three-robot (master and two slaves) example is given.