Control of nonholonomic mobile manipulators for cooperative object transportation

In this paper, a methodology for transporting objects with a group ofwheeled nonholonomic mobile manipulators is presented. a full dynamic model of a mobilemanipulator with a three wheeled mobile base and a three dof manipulator is derived usingthe gibbs-appell method. since the dynamical equations of a mobile robot are highlynonlinear, an input-output linearization technique is used to control individual robots.transporting the object is divided into two steps. first, the robots use a decentralizedbehavior-based method to approach and surround the object. then, a virtual structuremethod is used to control the robots to transport the object cooperatively. a numericalsimulation study is performed to show the eectiveness of the control methodology. theresults show that robots together are capable of approaching and grasping unknown shapesand can also manipulate objects in various ways.