Manipulation of an irregularly shaped object by two mobile robots

Abstract

Fast transition from a stable initial state to a stable handling state is important when multiple mobile robots manipulate and transport a heavy and bulky object. In this paper, a cooperative system consisting of two mobile robots was designed to realize fast transition. A gripper robot grasps and lifts an object from one side to provide enough space for a lifter robot to lift the object. Fast transition can be formulated as an optimization problem. We propose an algorithm to realize fast transition based on the cooperative system designed. The experimental results illustrate the validity of the proposed method.