Shared Object Manipulation with a Team of Collaborative Quadrupeds

2025-10-01

AI Summary

Multi-quadruped robotic manipulation of rigid objects faces challenges including limited workspace, complex force–motion coupling, and poor adaptability to dynamic environments. Method: This paper proposes a distributed cooperative control framework tailored for legged manipulators. Extending classical hybrid position–force control, the framework integrates force-closure grasping strategies with a consensus-based distributed coordination algorithm to enable real-time motion–force co-allocation under dynamic conditions. Unlike conventional fixed-base multi-arm systems, it fully exploits quadrupeds’ omnidirectional mobility and dexterous leg-based manipulation capabilities to overcome workspace constraints. Contribution/Results: Simulation and physical experiments with three Unitree A1 quadrupeds demonstrate stable collaborative grasping, transportation, and obstacle avoidance of a shared object. The system exhibits strong robustness and environmental adaptability, establishing a novel paradigm for swarm-level cooperative manipulation in unstructured or field environments.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Multiagent Systems: Teamwork
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Replanning and Plan Repair

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: LLM based quality controls for crowd work

Abstract

Utilizing teams of multiple robots is advantageous for handling bulky objects. Many related works focus on multi-manipulator systems, which are limited by workspace constraints. In this paper, we extend a classical hybrid motion-force controller to a team of legged manipulator systems, enabling collaborative loco-manipulation of rigid objects with a force-closed grasp. Our novel approach allows the robots to flexibly coordinate their movements, achieving efficient and stable object co-manipulation and transport, validated through extensive simulations and real-world experiments.

Problem

• Enabling collaborative object manipulation using multiple legged robots
• Overcoming workspace limitations of traditional multi-manipulator systems
• Achieving stable force-closed grasping during coordinated locomotion and manipulation

Innovation

• Hybrid motion-force controller for legged manipulators
• Force-closed grasp for rigid object manipulation
• Flexible movement coordination in multi-robot teams