Design and control of flexible handling systems based on mobile cooperative multi-robot-systems

Abstract

This study introduces a scalable control framework for Cooperative Multi-Robot Systems (cMRS), enhancing flexibility in manufacturing by adapting single-robot motion sequences to multi-robot setups. The framework addresses kinematic overdetermination via a Virtual Robot Model (VRM), which centralizes motion specification without straining computational resources, allowing seamless scaling. Experimental results demonstrate that cMRS configurations with varying robot numbers can achieve object transport and handling with accuracy comparable to single-robot systems under admittance control. Although larger configurations show increased maximum tracking errors, average accuracy remains stable, demonstrating the framework’s effectiveness for scalable cooperative robotics.