A Distributed Multi-Robot System for Cooperative Manipulation

In this paper we present a distributed multi-robot system that can achieve collaborative manipulation tasks through coordinated sensing, communication and control. We examine the specific task of locating an object in an unknown environment, caging it and then transporting it to a specified goal. Our framework for multi-robot coordination is extended from our previous work on cooperative localization and formation control. We focus on implementation and integration of these capabilities to robustly achieve the desired manipulation task.