Asymmetric Coupled Control Framework for Synchronizing Multiple Robotic Manipulators

An asymmetric-coupling decentralized control framework is developed using a Lyapunov-like lemma to achieve synchronization and trajectory tracking among multiple robots. Multiple robots are treated as a single integrated system when employing a Lyapunov-based strategy to design the asymmetric coupled control system. The challenge of verifying the negative semi-definiteness of the Lyapunov function’s time derivative, due to the inclusion of asymmetric coupling terms from the controllers, is addressed through grouping and factorization techniques. The benefits of asymmetric coupling control are demonstrated in comparison to two-way coupling control. Two, three, and four robots are studied, respectively. In graph theory, several control-coupling topologies exist for networked robots. A family of coupling topologies for the four-robot system is compared and ranked in terms of the joint convergence speed and servo gains. Numerical simulations and comparisons are conducted to verify the theoretical results.