Shared Control of Robot-Robot Collaborative Lifting with Agent Postural and Force Ergonomic Optimization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a centralized control framework for robot-robot collaborative lifting that optimizes posture and contact forces to enhance efficiency and ergonomics, validated with humanoid robots in lifting tasks.

Contribution

A novel shared control approach for collaborative robot lifting that integrates ergonomic optimization of posture and forces through centralized coordination.

Findings

Effective collaboration achieved with ergonomic posture optimization.

Validated framework with two humanoid robots performing lifting sequences.

Improved efficiency and safety in robot-robot collaboration.

Abstract

Humans show specialized strategies for efficient collaboration. Transferring similar strategies to humanoid robots can improve their capability to interact with other agents, leading the way to complex collaborative scenarios with multiple agents acting on a shared environment. In this paper we present a control framework for robot-robot collaborative lifting. The proposed shared controller takes into account the joint action of both the robots thanks to a centralized controller that communicates with them, and solves the whole-system optimization. Efficient collaboration is ensured by taking into account the ergonomic requirements of the robots through the optimization of posture and contact forces. The framework is validated in an experimental scenario with two iCub humanoid robots performing different payload lifting sequences.