Multilayer scheme for the adaptive cooperative coordinated control of mobile manipulators

This paper presents a multi-layer scheme for the adaptive cooperative coordinated control of mobile manipulator robots. Each layer works as an independent module, dealing with a specific part of the problem of cooperation, coordination and adaptation, thus giving more flexibility to the scheme. The adaptive dynamic compensation layer is capable of updating the estimated parameters for all robots, which are directly related to physical parameters of each mobile manipulator. Also, the redundancy of the mobile manipulators is used for the avoidance of obstacles by the mobile platforms - without deforming the virtual structure and maintaining its desired trajectory - and the singular configuration prevention through the system´s manipulability control. Stability and robustness are proved by using Lyapunov´s method. Simulation results show a good performance of the proposed multi-layer scheme as proved by the theoretical design.