Path following for nonholonomic mobile manipulators

Abstract

In the paper a new control algorithm preserving a path following for special class of mobile manipulators, namely for nonholonomic mobile manipulators, is presented. The mobile manipulator is a robotic system consisting of a mobile platform equipped with non-deformable wheels and a manipulator mounted on this platform. Such a composed system is able to realize manipulation tasks in a much larger workspace than a manipulator with a fixed base. Taking into account the type of constraints of both subsystems, there are 4 possible configurations of mobile manipulators: type (h, h) - a holonomic manipulator on a holonomic platform, type (h, nh) - a holonomic platform with a nonholonomic manipulator, type (nh, h) - a nonholonomic platform with a holonomic manipulator, and finally type (nh, nh) - both the platform and the manipulator nonholonomic. In our considerations we focus on the nonholonomic mobile manipulator of the (nh, h) type. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2007.