Cooperative robot control and synchronization of Lagrangian systems

This article presents a simple synchronization framework that can be directly applied to cooperative control of multi-agent systems and oscillation synchronization in robotic manipulation and teleoperation. A dynamical network of multiple Lagrangian systems is constructed by adding diffusive couplings to otherwise freely moving or flying robots. The proposed decentralized tracking control law synchronizes an arbitrary number of robots into a common trajectory with global exponential convergence. The proposed strategy is much simpler than earlier work in terms of both the computational load and the required signals. Furthermore, in contrast with prior work which used simple double integrator models, the proposed method permits highly nonlinear systems and is further extended to time-delayed communications, adaptive control, partial-joint coupling, and leader-follower networks.