Type synthesis of coordinated multi-robot system based on parallel thought

Abstract

For the synthesis of the required type about the multi-robot coordination system in industrial transportation, this paper presents a novel method in which each robot in the coordinated task is viewed as a branched chain of an equivalent parallel robot (EPR), which is converted into a problem for type synthesis of parallel robots. A theoretic method is proposed to represent the kinematic features of the mechanism’s end-effector and its position and pose in the world coordinate system. The basic concept of a robotic characteristic (C) set is given, and the corresponding algorithm is analyzed. Based on the theory of C set, the concrete steps for type synthesis of EPR are presented by analyzing the characteristics of its branched chains, and many EPR groups with end kinematic features for the C sets of the operational tasks are obtained. Then three translational (3T) operational requirements that can be extended to other degrees of freedom (DOF) are adopted, and the DOF of homogeneous and heterogeneous EPR are analyzed using screw theory. Finally the validation of the method is demonstrated by Adams, which shows that the two groups are able to complete the task.