On cooperative conveyance by two mobile robots

This paper presents a two mobile robots system in which the robots carry an object in a cooperative way. We concentrate on cooperative work by two developed mobile robots each equipped with a video camera and two main wheels, and controlled by a microcomputer. The two microcomputers are connected to each other through a serial interface bus to realize mutual communication. The robots push an object together on a flat laboratory floor, performing image processing in order to detect the posture of the object and mutually controlling their velocities. The system configuration is described as well as the image processing the robots perform and their communications. Experimental results are given with discussion.<<ETX>>