Finding Near-Optimal Formation of Cooperative Wheeled Mobile Robots in Payload Transportation

The aim of this investigation is to determine the optimal formation of a cooperative team of wheeled mobile robots. The desired task is transporting a heavy object from an initial pose to a predetermined final one such that the total consumed energy of the system is minimized. To solve the problem a cost function is considered which is a measure of the total consumed energy. Then the positions of the grasping points are searched based on some numerical methods and finally compared with each other. It will be assumed the platforms will keep a desired arrangement duringpayload transportation.

Keywords:

Optimal Formation , Grasping Points , Payload Transportation , Cooperative Mobile Robots