Formation-based cooperative transportation by a group of non-holonomic mobile robots

In this study, motion planning and control scheme for a cooperative transportation system, which consists of a single object and multiple autonomous non-holonomic mobile robots, is proposed. Virtual leader-follower formation control strategy is used for the cooperative transportation system. The object is assumed as the virtual leader of the system and the robots carrying the object are considered as follower robots. A smooth path is generated by considering the constraints of the virtual robot. The origin of the coordinate system attached to the center of gravity of the object tracks the generated path. A path for each follower robot is generated to keep the formation structure. The follower robots track their paths. A communication framework is used for the messaging between robots, and asymptotically stable tracking control is used for trajectory tracking. The proposed method is verified with real applications and simulations using Pioneer P3-DX mobile robots and a single object.