Collective transport of arbitrarily shaped objects using robot swarms

Abstract

Out-of-the-box swarm solutions powering industrial logistics will need to adapt to the tasks at hand, coordinating in a distributed manner to transport objects of different sizes. This work designs and evaluates a collective transport strategy to move large and arbitrarily shaped objects in warehouse environments. The strategy uses a decentralized recruitment and decision-making process, ensuring that sufficient robots are in place for a coordinated, safe lift and transport of the object. Results show robots having no prior knowledge about the object’s size and shape were successfully able to transport them in simulation.