A Passivity-Based System Design of Semi-Autonomous Cooperative Robotic Swarm

Abstract

This article presents a novel semiautonomous cooperative robotic system. Information flows in the architecture are designed based on the passivity property. The human passivity needed to guarantee the control goal is demonstrated using a human-in-the-loop simulator and system identification techniques. As a solution to stable coordination via bilateral human–swarm interactions, the research group built the system consisting of multiple planar robots, an operator and a computer whose role is to implement the distributed motion synchronization law. Experimental results on remote control of the robots are finally demonstrated. A typical approach to stabilization of an interconnected system that includes a highly uncertain component like a human operator is to assume passivity of the component block. Specifically, modeling of the operator has been addressed in this manner for several studies in bilateral teleoperation. It is observed from the figures provided in the article that the robots form and maintain the specified formation while they are maneuvered stably toward the desired references by the operator.