Using Google Glass in human-robot swarm interaction

We study how a human operator can guide a swarm of robots when transporting a large object through an environment with obstacles. The operator controls a leader robot that influences the other robots of the swarm. Follower robots push the object only if they have no line of sight of the leader. The leader represents a way point that the object should reach. By changing its position over time, the operator effectively guides the transporting robots towards the final destination. The operator uses the Google Glass device to interact with the swarm. Communication can be achieved via either touch or voice commands and the support of a graphical user interface. Experimental results with 20 physical e-puck robots show that the human–robot interaction allows the swarm to transport the object through a complex environment

A decentralized motion coordination strategy for dynamic target tracking

This paper presents a decentralized motion planning algorithm for the distributed sensing of a noisy dynamical process by multiple cooperating mobile sensor agents. This problem is motivated by localization and tracking tasks of dynamic targets. Our gradient-descent method is based on a cost function that measures the overall quality of sensing. We also investigate the role of imperfect communication between sensor agents in this framework, and examine the trade-offs in performance between sensing and communication. Simulations illustrate the basic characteristics of the algorithms

Randomized Planning and Control Strategy for Whole-Arm Manipulation of a Slippery Polygonal Object

The present paper introduces a planning and control strategy for whole-arm manipulation of a slippery polygonal object. Randomized planning methods are first proposed in order to generate contact state transitions, which help not only to reduce the amount of calculation required, but also to handle a hybrid system composed of a continuous system and a discrete system, which has a large search space and complicated constraints. Second, a novel control strategy, which can switch manipulation modes among quasi-static, dynamic, and caging manipulation depending on the situation, is proposed. This strategy not only can cope with changes in the mechanics of the system caused by contact state transitions, but also can increase the manipulation feasibility and reliability. The validity of the proposed methods is verified through simulations and experiments

Object Manipulation using a Multirobot Cluster with Force Sensing

This research explored object manipulation using multiple robots by developing a control system utilizing force sensing. Multirobot solutions provide advantages of redundancy, greater coverage, fault-tolerance, distributed sensing and actuation, and reconfigurability. In object manipulation, a variety of solutions have been explored with different robot types and numbers, control strategies, sensors, etc. This research involved the integration of force sensing with a centralized position control method of two robots (cluster control) and building it into an object level controller. This controller commands the robots to push the object based on the measured interaction forces between them while maintaining proper formation with respect to each other and the object. To test this controller, force sensor plates were attached to the front of the Pioneer 3-AT robots. The object is a long, thin, rectangular prism made of cardboard, filled with paper for weight. An Ultra Wideband system was used to track the positions and headings of the robots and object. Force sensing was integrated into the position cluster controller by decoupling robot commands, derived from position and force control loops. The result was a successful pair of experiments demonstrating controlled transportation of the object, validating the control architecture. The robots pushed the object to follow linear and circular trajectories. This research is an initial step toward a hybrid force/position control architecture with cluster control for object transportation by a multirobot system