Modular cooperative mobile robots for ventral long payload transport and obstacle crossing

Abstract

In this paper, a new architecture for cooperative all-terrain mobile robots is introduced. It consists in a poly-robot system called C3Bots AT/VLP robot. It is formed by the association of two or more identical mono-robots with simple kinematics that makes a poly-robot system while using the payload as a connecting frame. The mono-robots are able to co-manipulate long objects whatever their length and mass and to transport them in unstructured environments. Each monorobot has a manipulator with up to four degrees of freedom that can catch the payload on the ground and lift it for a ventral transportation mode. The paper presents several kinematics and an obstacle crossing process in eighteen stages that guarantee permanent stability of the poly-robot thanks to motions of the monorobots with respect to the payload.