Force cooperation in a reconfigurable field multirobot system

Force cooperation between robots can enhance the mobility of robots in the field. This paper presents the multirobot system JL-1, in which the robots can dock and adjust their posture in relation to each other to execute force cooperation if necessary. To reveal how force cooperation enhances the terrain adaptability of JL-1 and to discover the limits of the current reconfiguration mechanism, this paper analyzes the forces arising between robots during force cooperation. By examining one typical, flexible force cooperation, the docking action, we deduce the self-aligning conditions of the current docking mechanism, which is useful to improve the mechanism and clarify the demands on the docking guidance sensors. The static analysis of the posture-adjusting mechanism yields the force-amplifying feature and the drivable work space of this motorized spherical joint consisting of a parallel and serial mechanism. The analysis also explains why some locomotion types of JL-1 are performed the way they are. After that, a series of onsite experiments confirm the abilities of the locomotion and the force cooperation of JL-1. As the basis of the analysis, the mechanical structure and control system architecture o JL-1 are also briefly introduced.