Multi-agent control architecture of mobile manipulators: Following an operational trajectory

This paper presents a trajectory planning methodology for a mobile manipulator whose end-effector has to follow a predefined operational trajectory while considering obstacles in its environment. The robot is controlled by a multi-agent architecture that consists of six agents: Four agents are installed on an off-board PC and two others installed on the onboard PC of the robot. The validity of the methodology is demonstrated using the RobuTER/ULM mobile manipulator. The end-effector of the robot is asked to follow a straight-line while the non-holonomic differentially driven mobile base has to avoid obstacles in the environment. The end-effector of the robot is positioned at the preferred configuration progressively as the mobile base moves due to messages (current position coordinates and orientation angle of the mobile base, etc.) exchanged between the various agents of the control architecture.