Controlling the interaction of a multi-robot system with external entities

In this paper we consider a multi-robot system that shares the environment with external entities, and we propose a methodology for controlling the interaction with them. In particular, we consider the problem of achieving a desired dynamic interaction model, in such a way that the multi-robot system exchanges desired forces with external entities. This is obtained by introducing local deformations of the coupling actions among the robots. The proposed method ensures preservation of the passivity property, which provides safety guarantees in the interaction with the (possibly poorly known) external entities