Collision avoidance system for multiple mobile robots transporting a single object in coordination based on function allocation concept

The decentralized motion control architecture for multiple robots in coordination is a natural extension of human behaviors to robots. Decentralized motion control system for multiple mobile robots transporting a single object in coordination has been proposed and extended to nonholonomic tracked mobile robots driven by two actuators. Systems have an architecture of a leader follower type, with which the resultant pose of the object is not uniquely determined. In this paper, we propose a new multiple robots system of the leader-followers type based on the function-allocation concept. To illustrate the concept, we developed a leader follower robot system, in which the leader is in charge of the handling motion of the object and the followers avoid collisions to obstacles and handle the object in coordination with the leader. Experimental results will illustrate the validity of the proposed method.