Abstract
Cooperative transportation of objects by a group of small mobile robots is expected to work in disaster sites. In this study, we aim to transport fragile objects including humans which may move during the transport, with as little burden as possible. We propose the adoption of a flexible tri-axis tactile sensor with thickness at the top of the robot on which the object is mounted for safe support and state monitoring. We improved the leader-follower based control by adding force feedback into the leader’s control law to prevent excessive force on the object, which is the disadvantage of the typical leader-follower method. We verified the robots can transport a rigid body gently with the proposed control law by converging their speeds to the same value in a dynamical simulation and actual experiments. Additionally, we found that multijoint objects also can be transported with the proposed method, whereas the stable support of the object by each robot is reserved for future works.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cao, Y., Fukunaga, A., Kahng, A.: Cooperative mobile robotics: antecedents and directions. Auton. Robot. 4, 7–27 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008855018923
Tuci, E., Alkilabi, M.H., Akanyeti, O.: Cooperative object transport in multi-robot systems: a review of the state-of-the-art. Front. Robot. AI. 5 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2018.00059
Schranz, M., Umlauft, M., Sende, M., Elmenreich, W.: Swarm robotic behaviors and current applications. Front. Robot. AI (2020)
Fukuda, T., Ueyama, T., Kawauchi, Y., Arai, F.: Concept of cellular robotic system (CEBOT) and basic strategies for its realization. Comput. Electr. Eng. 18, 11–39 (1992). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/004579069290029D
Parker, L.: Current state of the art in distributed autonomous mobile robotics. Distrib. Auton. Robot. Syst. 4, 3–12 (2000)
Yan, Z., Jouandeau, N., Cherif, A.: A survey and analysis of multi-robot coordination. Int. J. Adv. Robot. Syst. 10 (2013). https://doi.org/10.5772/57313
Brambilla, M., Ferrante, E., Birattari, M., Dorigo, M.: Swarm robotics: a review from the swarm engineering perspective. Swarm Intell. 7, 1–41 (2013)
Nazarova, A., Zhai, M.: The application of multi-agent robotic systems for earthquake rescue. Robot.: Indus. 4.0 Issues New Intell. Control Paradigms., 133–146 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37841-7_11
Osuka, K., Isayama, S.: Motion control of multi-linked stretcher robot DUCKS. In: Proceedings Of SICE Annual Conference 2010, pp. 873–874 (2010)
Dorigo, M., et al.: The SWARM-BOTS project
Wang, H., et al.: Design methodology for magnetic field-based soft tri-axis tactile sensors. Sensors (Switzerland) 16 (2016)
Kawasetsu, T., Horii, T., Ishihara, H., Asada, M.: Flexible tri-axis tactile sensor using spiral inductor and magnetorheological elastomer. IEEE Sens. J. 18, 5834–5841 (2018)
Wang, H., et al.: Design and characterization of tri-axis soft inductive tactile sensors. IEEE Sens. J. 18, 7793–7801 (2018)
Hughes, J., Culha, U., Giardina, F., Guenther, F., Rosendo, A., Iida, F.: Soft manipulators and grippers: a review. Front. Robot. AI 3 (2016)
Kim, S., Laschi, C., Trimmer, B.: Soft robotics: a bioinspired evolution in robotics. Trends Biotechnol. 31, 287–294 (2013)
Asama, H., Matsumoto, A., Ishida, Y.: Design of an autonomous and distributed robot system: ACTRESS. In: Proceedings. IEEE/RSJ International Workshop on Intelligent Robots and Systems. (IROS ’89) the Autonomous Mobile Robots and its Applications, pp. 283–290 (1989)
Kosuge, K., Oosumi, T., Chiba, K.: Decentralized control of multiple mobile robots handling a single object in coordination. J. Robot. Soc. Jpn. 16, 87–95 (1998)
Osumi, H., Nojiri, H., Kuribayashi, Y., Okazaki, T.: Cooperative control for three mobile robots transporting a large object. J. Robot. Soc. Jpn. 19, 744–752 (2001)
Wang, Z., Schwager, M.: Kinematic multi-robot manipulation with no communication using force feedback. In: 2016 IEEE International Conference On Robotics And Automation (ICRA), pp. 427–432 (2016)
Wang, Z., Yang, G., Su, X., Schwager, M.: OuijaBots: omnidirectional robots for cooperative object transport with rotation control using no communication. In: Groß, R., et al. (eds.) Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. SPAR, vol. 6, pp. 117–131. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73008-0_9
Zhang, Y.: Transportation experiment with mobile robots based on tactile feedback - object. https://youtu.be/i5yjvAJ5VRE
Zhang, Y.: Transportation experiment with mobile robots based on tactile feedback - half-sized skeleton. https://youtu.be/AtM5e7bqSZQ
Zhang, Y.: Transportation experiment with mobile robots based on tactile feedback - moving limb. https://youtu.be/NBYaup4oivA
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI 20H04473, T21K141830, A21H05104a and JST [Moonshot R &D][Grant Number JPMJPS2032] and in part by grants-in-aid for JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP22K14277. The authors would like to thank Dr. Kawasetsu for his valuable advice on the flexible tactile sensor and Mr. Ito for discussions on the hardware design.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zhang, Y., Sueoka, Y., Ishihara, H., Tsunoda, Y., Osuka, K. (2024). A Decentralized Cooperative Approach to Gentle Human Transportation with Mobile Robots Based on Tactile Feedback. 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_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51497-5_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-51496-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-51497-5
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)