Human Multi-robot Cooperative Manipulation Based on Distributed Control

Recent years have witnessed significant development in robotics technology, leading to increased research interest in human-robot interaction. This paper presents a distributed control strategy for human multi-robot interaction in the context of a collaborative task, such as object transportation. Therein, the strategy consists of a two-layer structure, with the upper layer employing a leader-follower approach. The leader regulates the human force by means of an adaptive method to generate an appropriate desired trajectory for object manipulation, while the followers dynamically estimate the desired trajectory through communication with neighboring robots via a communication graph. The lower layer employs a distributed impedance control method to ensure adaptive coordination among multiple robots, thereby maintaining appropriate grasping force to prevent object slippage. Finally, numerical simulations on a collaborative system comprising an operator and two 6-DOF PUMA robots verify the effectiveness of the strategy.