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A Force-Mediated Controller for Cooperative Object Manipulation with Independent Autonomous Robots

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2022)

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics ((SPAR,volume 28))

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Abstract

We consider cooperative manipulation by multiple robots assisting a leader, when information about the manipulation task, environment, and team of helpers is unavailable, and without the use of explicit communication. The shared object being manipulated serves as a physical channel for coordination, with robots sensing forces associated with its movement. Robots minimize force conflicts, which are unavoidable under these restrictions, by inferring an intended context: decomposing the object’s motion into a task space of allowed motion and a null space in which perturbations are rejected. The leader can signal a change in context by applying a sustained strong force in an intended new direction. We present a controller, prove its stability, and demonstrate its utility through experiments with (a) an in-lab force-sensitive robot assisting a human operator and (b) a multi-robot collective in simulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Space Technology Research Institutes grant (number 80NSSC19K1076) from NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants Program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Autodesk Robotics Lab, Autodesk Inc., San Francisco, USA

    Nicole E. Carey

  2. Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, USA

    Justin Werfel

Authors
  1. Nicole E. Carey
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  2. Justin Werfel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicole E. Carey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Franche-Comté, Montbéliard, France

    Julien Bourgeois

  2. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jamie Paik

  3. CNRS, University of Franche-Comté, Besancon, France

    Benoît Piranda

  4. Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Justin Werfel

  5. University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Sabine Hauert

  6. Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Alyssa Pierson

  7. University of Lübeck, Lubeck, Germany

    Heiko Hamann

  8. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China

    Tin Lun Lam

  9. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Fumitoshi Matsuno

  10. University of Illinois System, Urbana, IL, USA

    Negar Mehr

  11. University of Franche-Comté, Montbéliard, France

    Abdallah Makhoul

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Carey, N.E., Werfel, J. (2024). A Force-Mediated Controller for Cooperative Object Manipulation with Independent Autonomous Robots. In: Bourgeois, J., et al. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. DARS 2022. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51497-5_11

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