Abstract
In this paper, an autonomous mobile robot system which achieves both flexibility and efficiency by cooperative transportation in a manufacturing environment is proposed. The autonomous mobile robots have the task to transport parts from an input station to an assembly station, and to transport assembly units from an assembly station to an output station. Each robot transports parts or assembly units either individually or by a hand-over operation between connected robots. We developed two experimental autonomous mobile robots which were equipped with a CCD camera, obstacle sensors, infrared communication sensors, a manipulator for handling the parts or assembly units, and two independently controlled wheels. We also developed a 3D simulation environment of the autonomous mobile robot system. By using the measured data of the two real robots as input for the 3D simulation environment of the autonomous mobile robot system, the performance of the cooperative transportation in the system is verified.
