About 20 years ago, somebody built a pair of robots which could move furniture. They were little forklifts which could cooperate. With one at each end of a couch or large object, they could lift and move things much bigger than the robots. Good idea, but too expensive at the time to get out of the lab. Today, that could work.
It was done with six axes of force sensing on the forks, and minimal communication. Both ends would get into a balanced lift position and push a little bit towards the other end. Then, the master end would do most of the planning and control. The other end just followed by maintaining the force situation - balanced lift and a little push towards the master end.
This would be a nice project today. Maybe even useful. Think of the Kiva platform with a forklift attachment.
About 20 years ago, somebody built a pair of robots which could move furniture. They were little forklifts which could cooperate. With one at each end of a couch or large object, they could lift and move things much bigger than the robots. Good idea, but too expensive at the time to get out of the lab. Today, that could work.
It was done with six axes of force sensing on the forks, and minimal communication. Both ends would get into a balanced lift position and push a little bit towards the other end. Then, the master end would do most of the planning and control. The other end just followed by maintaining the force situation - balanced lift and a little push towards the master end.
This would be a nice project today. Maybe even useful. Think of the Kiva platform with a forklift attachment.