Object closure and manipulation by multiple cooperating mobile robots
Zhidong Wang, Vijay Kumar · 2003
We address the manipulation of planar objects by multiple cooperating mobile robots using the concept of object closure. In contrast to form or force closure, object closure is a condition under which the object is trapped so that there is no feasible path for the object from the given position to any position that is beyond a specified threshold distance. Once object closure is achieved, the robots can cooperatively drag or flow the trapped object to the desired goal. We define object closure and develop a set of decentralized algorithms that allow the robots to achieve and maintain object closure. We show how simple, first-order, potential field based controllers can be used to implement multirobot manipulation tasks.