Moving objects with a single robot is a common practice; however, the weight and dimensions of the cargo oftentimes limit the task. To aid this, we propose using multiple coordinating robots to move large objects. The main challenge in this approach is that the robots do not know the center of mass, or even the geometry, of the object they are moving, but do have complete information regarding their own relative formation. This fact motivates solving the problem using rigidity theory, a tool recently used in formation control. Within this context, the planar motion of the object can be decoupled into pure steady state translations and rotations by utilizing the eigenvectors of the corresponding framework’s rigidity matrix. This formulation is beneficial because it only requires local information to create any desired trajectory.
This work explores how applying forces computed using the rigidity matrix can be used to estimate the center of mass of the object, allowing the robots to adjust the forces and therefore to follow any desired trajectory.
Finally, we demonstrate the analytical results with numerical simulations.
