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arXiv · 2206.14293

Human-Multirobot Collaborative Mobile Manipulation: the Omnid Mocobots

Matthew L. Elwin·Billie Strong·Randy A. Freeman·Kevin M. Lynch
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Abstract

The Omnid human-collaborative mobile manipulators are an experimental platform for testing control architectures for autonomous and human-collaborative multirobot mobile manipulation. An Omnid consists of a mecanum-wheel omnidirectional mobile base and a series-elastic Delta-type parallel manipulator, and it is a specific implementation of a broader class of mobile collaborative robots ("mocobots") suitable for safe human co-manipulation of delicate, flexible, and articulated payloads. Key features of mocobots include passive compliance, for the safety of the human and the payload, and high-fidelity end-effector force control independent of the potentially imprecise motions of the mobile base. We describe general considerations for the design of teams of mocobots; the design of the Omnids in light of these considerations; manipulator and mobile base controllers to achieve useful multirobot collaborative behaviors; and initial experiments in human-multirobot collaborative mobile manipulation of large, unwieldy payloads. For these experiments, the only communication among the humans and Omnids is mechanical, through the payload.

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Matthew L. Elwin, Billie Strong, Randy A. Freeman, Kevin M. Lynch. 2022-06-28. Human-Multirobot Collaborative Mobile Manipulation: the Omnid Mocobots. https://doi.org/10.1109/lra.2022.3226366

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