Cooperative Grasping of an Unknown Object by Multiple Mobile Robots

We aim at handling an unknown object by cooperating multiple mobile robots consist of various moving costs and load capacities. We focus on the problems of determining an appropriate grasping arrangement prior to handling operations. This method is proposed to avoid bad situations, such as making an object fall down, or some robots overloaded in handling. The algorithm we propose in this paper includes two optimization problems; one is the “determination of initial arrangement, ” the other is the “determination of final arrangement.” The difference between these optimizations is that the mass center position of the object is recognized or not. In the first optimization, the robots are placed where the possibility that robots can lift the object with no trouble. In the second optimization, the penalty index is defined to minimize the energy the system consumes and to maximize an index of stability. We have confirmed that the robots moved to the optimal arrangement in computer simulations.