Distributed Cooperative Manipulation under Timed Temporal Specifications

TL;DR

This paper presents a distributed, model-free control method enabling multiple robots to cooperatively manipulate an object while satisfying complex timed goals specified in Metric Interval Temporal Logic, without requiring force feedback or communication.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid control algorithm that abstracts the system as a finite transition model and employs automata-based methods for timed goal satisfaction in cooperative manipulation.

Findings

Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the control scheme.

The method accommodates agents with different power capabilities.

No force feedback or inter-agent communication needed for coordination.

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of cooperative manipulation of a single object by N robotic agents under local goal specifications given as Metric Interval Temporal Logic (MITL) formulas. In particular, we propose a distributed model-free control protocol for the trajectory tracking of the cooperatively manipulated object without necessitating feedback of the contact forces/torques or inter-agent communication. This allows us to abstract the motion of the coupled object-agents system as a finite transition system and, by employing standard automata-based methodologies, we derive a hybrid control algorithm for the satisfaction of a given MITL formula. In addition, we use load sharing coefficients to represent potential differences in power capabilities among the agents. Finally, simulation studies verify the validity of the proposed scheme.