Teleoperated mobile robot groups with reconfigurable formation

In this paper a formation control algorithm is proposed for teleoperated mobile robot groups. A leader robot is teleoperated directly by the human operator using a primary haptic device. The rest of the mobile robots follow the virtual reference structure attached to the leader. The shape of the structure can be reconfigured by the operator using a secondary haptic device. A method is given for generating velocities for the leader robot based on the position of the primary haptic device. A procedure is also given to calculate the haptic feedback forces for the two haptic devices. In case of the primary haptic device the force reflects the proximity of nearby obstacles. For the secondary haptic device the force feedback is calculated in such a way that it allows the human operator to sense the position of the followers. Real-time experimental measurements using wheeled mobile robots are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed teleoperation strategy.