Cooperative Manipulation of Objects by Multiple Mobile Robots with Tools *

In this paper we propose a method that multiple mobile robots use tools to accomplish tasks. To give an actual example, the robots can push and manipulate objects by means of a stick and can pull objects by means of string. We classify tools in view of their characteristic and the robots make use of characteristics of tools to accomplish tasks easily and efficiently. We adopt sticks and strings as tools: by using sticks, objects can be lined up simultaneously and by using strings, objects can be divided into two groups. We construct planning method about these tasks and build the system that mobile robots use tools. We use four wheeled robots equipped with tool handling module. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown with the experiments of the robots equipped with tools.