Continuum Deformation of a Multiple Quadcopter Payload Delivery Team without Inter-Agent Communication
For multi-robot payload transport, this work offers a communication-free coordination method, though it is an incremental extension of continuum deformation concepts.
The paper proposes continuum deformation for controlling a multi-quadcopter payload delivery team, enabling coordinated motion through narrow channels without inter-agent communication. Simulations demonstrate successful transport through a narrow channel under uncertainty.
This paper proposes continuum deformation as a strategy for controlling the collective motion of a multiple quadcopter system (MQS) carrying a common payload. Continuum deformation allows expansion and contraction of inter-agent distances in a 2D motion plane to follow desired motions of three team leaders. The remaining quadcopter followers establish the desired continuum deformation only by knowing leaders positions at desired sample time waypoints without the need for inter-agent communication over the intermediate intervals. Each quadcopter applies a linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) controller to track the desired trajectory given by the continuum deformation in the presence of disturbance and measurement noise. Results of simulated cooperative aerial payload transport in the presence of uncertainty illustrate the application of continuum deformation for coordinated transport through a narrow channel.