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arXiv · 1904.03049

Loosely Coupled Payload Transport System with Robot Replacement

Pulkit Verma·Rahul Tallamraju·Abhay Rawat·Subhasis Chand·Kamalakar Karlapalem
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Abstract

In this work, we present an algorithm for robot replacement to increase the operational time of a multi-robot payload transport system. Our system comprises a group of nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots traversing on a known trajectory. We design a multi-robot system with loosely coupled robots that ensures the system lasts much longer than the battery life of an individual robot. A system level optimization is presented, to decide on the operational state (charging or discharging) of each robot in the system. The charging state implies that the robot is not in a formation and is kept on charge whereas the discharging state implies that the robot is a part of the formation. Robot battery recharge hubs are present along the trajectory. Robots in the formation can be replaced at these hub locations with charged robots using a replacement mechanism. We showcase the efficacy of the proposed scheduling framework through simulations and experiments with real robots.

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Pulkit Verma, Rahul Tallamraju, Abhay Rawat, Subhasis Chand, Kamalakar Karlapalem. 2019-09-08. Loosely Coupled Payload Transport System with Robot Replacement. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.03049

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