Multi-Robot Cooperative Transport via Rigid Formation Control With Convex-Hull Planning

Abstract

This paper investigates the cooperative control problem for networked mobile manipulators (NMMs) in cooperative transport tasks. Our approach enables independent design of the end-effector controller and base motion planner through dynamic decoupling. For end-effector position control, we propose a novel rigid formation control method to regulate the relative distances and directions of end effectors, which are constrained to be aligned with the payload's geometry. For mobile base coordination, we develop a convex hull-based motion planner guaranteeing collision-free navigation with homotopy-preserving trajectories in cluttered environments. This decoupled architecture allows for parallel optimization of manipulator positioning and base mobility while ensuring system-level coordination. Extensive validation through comparative simulations and real-world experiments demonstrates the framework's effectiveness.