Part position and orientation in cooperative multirobot manipulation

This paper propose a methodology to analyze the possible positions and orientation of a part cooperatively manipulated by several robots. Manipulated part and grasping configurations are assumed rigid. Firstly, the paper presents a representation of the multirobot system workspace. It is expressed as a function of the individual robot workspaces and of the base and grasping relative transformations. Then, a second step is done in which orientation compatibility is analyzed. A great advantage of the proposed methodology in comparison with previous ones is its applicability to the design of multirobot working cells. Theoretical definitions are illustrated through the analysis of a multirobot workcell composed by articulated robots. Copyright © 2003 IFAC