A review on multi-robot systems categorised by application domain

Literature reviews on Multi-Robot Systems (MRS) typically focus on fundamental technical aspects, like coordination and communication, that need to be considered in order to coordinate a team of robots to perform a given task effectively and efficiently. Other reviews only consider works that aim to address a specific problem or one particular application of MRS. In contrast, this paper presents a survey of recent research works on MRS and categorises them according to their application domain. Furthermore, this paper compiles a number of seminal review works that have proposed specific taxonomies in classifying fundamental concepts, such as coordination, architecture and communication, in the field of MRS.peer-reviewe

Dynamic load distribution in cooperative manipulation tasks

International audienceIn cooperative manipulation tasks, load allocation is a crucial step in order to solve the intrinsic redundancy of the system. The desired wrench needs to be suitably distributed between the end-effectors to implement the desired motion of the manipulated object. In this framework, both the grasp kinematics and the individual capacities of each manipulator provide relevant constraints. On one hand, the end effector wrenches act on the object via the grasp geometry. On the other hand, the individual admissible payload further depends on the current configuration of the robots. In this paper we focus on a heterogeneous cooperative manipulation setting and we design a proper allocation strategy to distribute the desired object wrench, considering both constant and time-varying constraints for the load distribution. The relevance of our findings is illustrated by means of an experimental study involving two anthropomorphic robots manipulating a common object