Autonomous multiple-trolley collection system with nonholonomic robots: Design, control, and implementation

Xie, Peijia1; Xia, Bingyi1; Hu, Anjun1; Zhao, Ziqi1; Meng, Lingxiao1; Sun, Zhirui1; Gao, Xuheng1; Wang, Jiankun1,2; Meng, Max Q. -H.1,3,4

2024-07-01

10.1002/rob.22395

JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS   影响因子和分区

1556-4959

1556-4967

The task of collecting and transporting luggage trolleys in airports, characterized by its complexity within dynamic public environments, presents both an ongoing challenge and a promising opportunity for automated service robots. Previous research has primarily developed on universal platforms with robot arms or focused on handling a single trolley, creating a gap in providing cost-effective and efficient solutions for practical scenarios. In this paper, we propose a low-cost mobile manipulation robot incorporated with an autonomy framework for the collection and transportation of multiple trolleys that can significantly enhance operational efficiency. The method involves a novel design of the mechanical system and a vision-based control strategy. We design a lightweight manipulator and the docking mechanism, optimized for the sequential stacking and transportation of trolleys. On the basis of the Control Lyapunov Function and Control Barrier Function, we propose a vision-based controller with online Quadratic Programming, which improves the docking accuracy. The practical application of our system is demonstrated in real-world scenarios, where it successfully executes the multiple-trolley collection task.

autonomous docking autonomous trolley collection car-like object mobile manipulation nonholonomic robots vision-based control

SCI ; EI

英语

第一 ; 通讯

National Natural Science Foundation of China[62103181] ; Shenzhen Science and Technology Program["RCBS20221008093305007","20231115141459001"] ; Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program[2023QNRC001] ; Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China[G03034K003]

Robotics

Robotics

WOS:001270689900001

WILEY

Web of Science

1.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Elect & Elect Engn, Shenzhen Key Lab Robot Percept & Intelligence, Shenzhen, Peoples R China
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Jiaxing Res Inst, Jiaxing, Peoples R China
3.Chinese Univ Hong Kong, Dept Elect Engn, Hong Kong, Peoples R China
4.Univ Alberta, Dept Elect & Comp Engn, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Xie, Peijia,Xia, Bingyi,Hu, Anjun,et al. Autonomous multiple-trolley collection system with nonholonomic robots: Design, control, and implementation[J]. JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS,2024.

Xie, Peijia.,Xia, Bingyi.,Hu, Anjun.,Zhao, Ziqi.,Meng, Lingxiao.,...&Meng, Max Q. -H..(2024).Autonomous multiple-trolley collection system with nonholonomic robots: Design, control, and implementation.JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS.

Xie, Peijia,et al."Autonomous multiple-trolley collection system with nonholonomic robots: Design, control, and implementation".JOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (2024).