A Distributed Ladder Transportation Algorithm for Two Robots in a Corridor

We consider the problem of transporting a long object such as a ladder through a degree corner in a corridor using two omni directional robots that do not necessarily have identical characteristics A distributed algorithm is presented in which each robot computes its own motion based on the current and goal positions of the ladder the locations of the walls and the motion of the other robot observed indirectly through the link between the robot and the ladder We evaluate the performance and robustness of the algorithm using extensive computer simulation by changing several parameter values that a ect the key char acteristics of the robots including the maximum speed the guide path through the corner and sensitivity and reaction to the motion of the other robot The simulation results indicate that if the parameter values are chosen within cer tain reasonable ranges then overall the algorithm works quite well even for robots having di erent characteristics It is also shown that the robustness of the algorithm criti cally depends on the di erences between the robots in the values of two parameters