JL-2: A Mobile Multi-robot System with Docking and Manipulating Capabilities

This paper presents a new version of the JL series reconfigurable multi-robot system called JL-2. Byvirtue of the docking manipulator composed of a parallel mechanism and a cam gripper, every mobile robot in theJL-2 system is able to not only perform tasks in parallel, e.g. moving and grasping, but also dock with each othereven if there are large misalignments between two robots. A motorized spherical joint is formed between twodocked robots to enhance the locomotion capability of JL-2. To fulfill the demands of reconfiguration, a distributedcontrol system and sonar based docking guidance system are designed for the JL-2 prototype. Based on the abovedesign, the JL-2 prototype has been built and successfully demonstrated to confirm the validity and functionalityof the proposed capabilities