Gross, R. orcid.org/0000-0003-1826-1375, Chen, J., Gauci, M. et al. (2 more authors) (2015) Occlusion-based cooperative transport with a swarm of miniature mobile robots. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 31 (2). pp. 307-321. ISSN 1552-3098
Abstract
This paper proposes a strategy for transporting a large object to a goal using a large number of mobile robots that are significantly smaller than the object. The robots only push the object at positions where the direct line of sight to the goal is occluded by the object. This strategy is fully decentralized and requires neither explicit communication nor specific manipulation mechanisms. We prove that it can transport any convex object in a planar environment. We implement this strategy on the e-puck robotic platform and present systematic experiments with a group of 20 e-pucks transporting three objects of different shapes. The objects were successfully transported to the goal in 43 out of 45 trials. When using a mobile goal, teleoperated by a human, the object could be navigated through an environment with obstacles. We also tested the strategy in a 3-D environment using physics-based computer simulation. Due to its simplicity, the transport strategy is particularly suited for implementation on microscale robotic systems.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 IEEE. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Keywords: | Robot sensing systems; Shape; Force; Robot kinematics; Mobile robots |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/K033948/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Oct 2016 13:39 |
Last Modified: | 28 Oct 2016 13:39 |
Published Version: | https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2015.2400731 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1109/TRO.2015.2400731 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:106369 |