{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T23:25:21Z","timestamp":1769556321678,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,9]],"date-time":"2022-12-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1670544000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Act \u201cEnhancement of human research potential through doctoral research\u201d from the resources of the \u201cHuman Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning\u201d Program","award":["2014-2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2014-2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Robotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this work, we consider the autonomous object transportation problem employing a team of mobile manipulators within a compact planar workspace with obstacles. As the object is allowed to translate and rotate and each robot is equipped with a manipulator consisting of one or more moving links, the overall system (object and mobile manipulators) should adapt its shape in a flexible way so that it fulfills the transportation task with safety. To this end, we built a sequence of configuration space cells, each of which defines an allowable set of configurations of the object, as well as explicit intervals for each manipulator\u2019s states. Furthermore, appropriately designed under- and over-approximations of the free configuration space are used in an innovative way to guide the configuration space\u2019s exploration without loss of completeness. In addition, we coupled methodologies based on Reference Governors and Prescribed Performance Control with harmonic maps, in order to design a distributed control law for implementing the transitions specified by the high-level planner, which possesses guaranteed invariance and global convergence properties, thus avoiding the requirement for synchronized motion as inherently dictated by the majority of the related works. Furthermore, the proposed low-level control law does not require continuous information exchange between the robots, which rely only on measurements of the object\u2019s configuration and their own states. Finally, a transportation scenario within a complex warehouse workspace demonstrates the proposed approach and verifies its efficiency.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/robotics11060148","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,12]],"date-time":"2022-12-12T01:42:27Z","timestamp":1670809347000},"page":"148","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Mutli-Robot Cooperative Object Transportation with Guaranteed Safety and Convergence in Planar Obstacle Cluttered Workspaces via Configuration Space Decomposition"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Panagiotis","family":"Vlantis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Rio, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9850-2540","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Charalampos P.","family":"Bechlioulis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Rio, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1229-3029","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kostas J.","family":"Kyriakopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Gerkey, B.P., and Matari\u0107, M.J. (2002, January 11\u201315). Pusher-watcher: An approach to fault-tolerant tightly-coupled robot coordination. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Washington, DC, USA."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Yamada, S., and Saito, J. (1999, January 15\u201319). Adaptive action selection without explicit communication for multi-robot box-pushing. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Phoenix, AZ, USA."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Munoz Melendez, A., and Drogoul, A. (2004). Analyzing Multi-Robot Box-Pushing. Universidad de Colima. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Wang, Z.D., and Kumar, V. (2002, January 11\u201315). Object closure and manipulation by multiple cooperating mobile robots. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Washington, DC, USA."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fink, J., Michael, N., and Kumar, V. (2008, January 7\u201310). Composition of vector fields for multi-robot manipulation via caging. Proceedings of the International Conference on Robotics Science and Systems, Orlando, FL, USA.","DOI":"10.15607\/RSS.2007.III.004"},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"20","article-title":"Distributed Object Transportation Using Virtual Object","volume":"2","author":"Eoh","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Ind. Intell. Inf."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isatra.2015.11.017","article-title":"Symmetric caging formation for convex polygonal object transportation by multiple mobile robots based on fuzzy sliding mode control","volume":"60","author":"Dai","year":"2016","journal-title":"ISA Trans."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"270","DOI":"10.1109\/TSMC.2017.2733552","article-title":"Multirobot Object Transport via Robust Caging","volume":"50","author":"Wan","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Syst. Man, Cybern. Syst."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"571","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-32723-0_41","article-title":"Socially-mediated negotiation for obstacle avoidance in collective transport","volume":"Volume 83","author":"Ferrante","year":"2012","journal-title":"Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Habibi, G., Kingston, Z., Xie, W., Jellins, M., and McLurkin, J. (2015, January 26\u201330). Distributed centroid estimation and motion controllers for collective transport by multi-robot systems. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seattle, WA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2015.7139356"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Machado, T., Malheiro, T., Monteiro, S., Erlhagen, W., and Bicho, E. (2016, January 16\u201321). Multi-constrained joint transportation tasks by teams of autonomous mobile robots using a dynamical systems approach. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Stockholm, Sweden.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2016.7487477"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, Z., and Schwager, M. (2016, January 16\u201321). Kinematic multi-robot manipulation with no communication using force feedback. Proceedings of the PIEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Stockholm, Sweden.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2016.7487163"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-73008-0_9","article-title":"OuijaBots: Omnidirectional Robots for Cooperative Object Transport with Rotation Control Using No Communication","volume":"Volume 6","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hekmatfar, T., Masehian, E., and Mousavi, S.J. (2014, January 15\u201317). Cooperative object transportation by multiple mobile manipulators through a hierarchical planning architecture. Proceedings of the 2014 2nd RSI\/ISM International Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics, ICRoM 2014, Tehran, Iran.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRoM.2014.6990952"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, Y., and De Silva, C.W. (2006, January 9\u201313). Multi-robot box-pushing: Single-agent Q-learning vs. team Q-learning. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Beijing, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2006.281729"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1613\/jair.1427","article-title":"Decentralized control of cooperative systems: Categorization and complexity analysis","volume":"22","author":"Goldman","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Artif. Intell. Res."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1292","DOI":"10.1109\/TRO.2017.2723903","article-title":"Robot collisions: A survey on detection, isolation, and identification","volume":"33","author":"Haddadin","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Robot."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1578","DOI":"10.1177\/0278364912462256","article-title":"On making robots understand safety: Embedding injury knowledge into control","volume":"31","author":"Haddadin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Robot. Res."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Uchiyama, M., and Dauchez, P. (1988, January 24\u201329). A symmetric hybrid position\/force control scheme for the coordination of two robots. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Philadelphia, PA, USA."},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"137","article-title":"Object Manipulation in a Multi-effector Robot System","volume":"Volume 4","author":"Khatib","year":"1988","journal-title":"Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Robotics Research"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1109\/TRA.2002.807549","article-title":"Nonholonomic navigation and control of cooperating mobile manipulators","volume":"19","author":"Tanner","year":"2003","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"672","DOI":"10.1109\/TRO.2016.2559500","article-title":"Model and Analysis of the Interaction Dynamics in Cooperative Manipulation Tasks","volume":"32","author":"Erhart","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Robot."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Khatib, O., Yokoi, K., Chang, K., Ruspini, D., Holmberg, R., and Casal, A. (1996, January 4\u20138). Vehicle\/arm coordination and multiple mobile manipulator decentralized cooperation. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Osaka, Japan."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"713","DOI":"10.1109\/TCST.2018.2885682","article-title":"Robust cooperative manipulation without force\/torque measurements: Control design and experiments","volume":"28","author":"Verginis","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, Y., Zou, M., Xiao, H., Wen, J., and Wang, Y. (2016, January 28\u201330). Cooperative-manipulation scheme of routh-hurwitz type for simultaneous repetitive motion planning of two-manipulator robotic systems. Proceedings of the 28th Chinese Control and Decision Conference, CCDC 2016, Yinchuan, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/CCDC.2016.7531779"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Petitti, A., Franchi, A., Di Paola, D., and Rizzo, A. (2016, January 16\u201321). Decentralized motion control for cooperative manipulation with a team of networked mobile manipulators. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Stockholm, Sweden.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2016.7487164"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Noohi, E., and Zefran, M. (2016, January 26\u201331). Modeling the interaction force during a haptically-coupled cooperative manipulation. Proceedings of the 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2016, New York, NY, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ROMAN.2016.7745099"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"649","DOI":"10.1007\/s10846-018-0878-5","article-title":"Real-Time Trajectory Generation Methods for Cooperating Mobile Manipulators Subject to State and Control Constraints","volume":"93","author":"Pajak","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Intell. Robot. Syst. Theory Appl."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9859","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ifacol.2020.12.2691","article-title":"An optimisation-based distributed cooperative control for multi-robot manipulation with obstacle avoidance","volume":"53","author":"He","year":"2020","journal-title":"IFAC-PapersOnLine"},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Kosuge, K., and Oosumi, T. (1996, January 4\u20138). Decentralized control of multiple robots handling an object. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Osaka, Japan."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Stilwell, D.J., and Bay, J.S. (1993, January 2\u20136). Toward the development of a material transport system using swarms of ant-like robots. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Atlanta, GA, USA."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1177\/1059712308090537","article-title":"Evolution of solitary and group transport behaviors for autonomous robots capable of self-assembling","volume":"16","author":"Gross","year":"2008","journal-title":"Adapt. Behav."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, J., Gauci, M., and Gross, R. (2013, January 6\u201310). A strategy for transporting tall objects with a swarm of miniature mobile robots. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Karlsruhe, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2013.6630674"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"307","DOI":"10.1109\/TRO.2015.2400731","article-title":"Occlusion-Based Cooperative Transport with a Swarm of Miniature Mobile Robots","volume":"31","author":"Chen","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Robot."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1564","DOI":"10.1177\/0278364916667473","article-title":"Force-Amplifying N-robot Transport System (Force-ANTS) for cooperative planar manipulation without communication","volume":"35","author":"Wang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Robot. Res."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"90","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2018.00090","article-title":"Collaborative multi-robot transportation in obstacle-cluttered environments via implicit communication","volume":"5","author":"Bechlioulis","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vlantis, P., Vrohidis, C., Bechlioulis, C.P., and Kyriakopoulos, K.J. (2018, January 21\u201325). Robot Navigation in Complex Workspaces Using Harmonic Maps. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2018.8460695"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vlantis, P., Vrohidis, C., Bechlioulis, C.P., and Kyriakopoulos, K.J. (2019, January 20\u201324). Orientation-Aware Motion Planning in Complex Workspaces using Adaptive Harmonic Potential Fields. Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, QC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2019.8794053"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Loizou, S.G. (2011, January 20\u201323). The navigation transformation: Point worlds, time abstractions and towards tuning-free navigation. Proceedings of the 2011 19th Mediterranean Conference on Control & Automation (MED), Corfu, Greece.","DOI":"10.1109\/MED.2011.5983166"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1516","DOI":"10.1109\/TRO.2017.2725323","article-title":"The Navigation Transformation","volume":"33","author":"Loizou","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Robot."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Arslan, O., and Koditschek, D.E. (June, January 29). Smooth extensions of feedback motion planners via reference governors. Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Singapore.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2017.7989510"},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Krstic, M., Kokotovic, P.V., and Kanellakopoulos, I. (1995). Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. [1st ed.]."}],"container-title":["Robotics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2218-6581\/11\/6\/148\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:37:21Z","timestamp":1760146641000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2218-6581\/11\/6\/148"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,9]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]}},"alternative-id":["robotics11060148"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/robotics11060148","relation":{},"ISSN":["2218-6581"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2218-6581","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,9]]}}}