Error Characterization in the Vicinity of Singularities in Multi-Robot Cluster Space Control

IGNACIO MAS; OGNJEN PETROVIC; CHRISTOPHER KITTS; JOSE ACAIN

Bangkok

Congreso; 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics; 2009

IEEE

The cluster space control technique promotes simplifiedspecification and monitoring of the motion of mobilemulti-robot systems of limited size. Previous work hasestablished the conceptual foundation of this approach andhas experimentally verified and validated its use for 2-robot,3-robot and 4-robot systems, with varying implementationsranging from automated trajectory control to human-in-thelooppiloting. In this publication, we review the cluster spaceframework and its application to a 3-robot system and presentthe problem of robot space to cluster space error propagationand its impact on cluster position uncertainty and controlperformance. A theoretical formulation of cluster position erroris presented. Using a 3-robot system testbed, the results areverified through experimental measurements. The cluster spaceJacobian matrix condition number is proposed as a metric foracceptable cluster configuration errors.