Multimobile Robot Cluster System for Robot Machining of Large-Scale Workpieces

In this article, a novel work pattern for large-scale workpiece machining, that is, multimobile robot cluster machining, is proposed. The key idea is to use distributed coordination control to link multiple robots as a cluster system. The coordination control law acts as a virtual constraint, and multiple robots move synchronously under a common leader. Two topological structures are introduced to describe the communication networks of the cluster system, namely, the N-chain and close-loop topologies. The convergence rate and resistance index of different topological structures are analyzed, and the applications of different topologies in varied machining scenarios are discussed. Two experiments are conducted on the multimobile robot system. The cluster system with a close-loop topology is used for the collaborative handling task, where the relative distance of two mobile robots can be limited within 6 cm. The cluster system with an N-chain topology is used for large-scale wind turbine blade machining. The cluster machining system requires little manual intervention and guarantees the synchronization performance of the machining system.