# Collaborative Navigation and Manipulation of a Cable-towed Load by Multiple Quadrupedal Robots

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.14424 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.14424/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 32 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Jun 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Highly Dynamic Quadruped Locomotion via Whole-Body Impulse Control and Model Predictive Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.06586/) (2019)
- [Learning Multi-Arm Manipulation Through Collaborative Teleoperation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.06738/) (2020)
- [Optimization-Based Collision Avoidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.03449/) (2017)
- [A Non-Cooperative Game Approach to Autonomous Racing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.03913/) (2017)
- [Robotic Guide Dog: Leading a Human with Leash-Guided Hybrid Physical Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14300/) (2021)
- [ALGAMES: A Fast Augmented Lagrangian Solver for Constrained Dynamic Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.08452/) (2021)
- [Learning from My Partner's Actions: Roles in Decentralized Robot Teams](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.07613/) (2019)
- [Adaptive CLF-MPC With Application To Quadrupedal Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.04536/) (2021)
- [Autonomous Navigation for Quadrupedal Robots with Optimized Jumping through Constrained Obstacles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.00773/) (2021)
- [Dynamic Legged Manipulation of a Ball Through Multi-Contact Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.00191/) (2020)
- [Autonomous Racing with Multiple Vehicles using a Parallelized Optimization with Safety Guarantee using Control Barrier Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.06435/) (2021)
- [Decentralized Adaptive Control for Collaborative Manipulation of Rigid Bodies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.03153/) (2020)
- [Multiple quadrotors carrying a flexible hose: dynamics, differential flatness and control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.12650/) (2019)
- [Non-Prehensile Manipulation of Cuboid Objects Using a Catenary Robot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.01572/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Regret Analysis of Distributed Online Control for LTI Systems with Adversarial Disturbances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03206/) (2023)
- [A Spectral Filtering Approach to Regret Analysis of Distributed Online Control for Linear Dynamical Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.02375/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper tackles the problem of robots collaboratively towing a load with cables to a specified goal location while avoiding collisions in real time. The introduction of cables (as opposed to rigid links) enables the robotic team to travel through narrow spaces by changing its intrinsic dimensions through slack/taut switches of the cable. However, this is a challenging problem because of the hybrid mode switches and the dynamical coupling among multiple robots and the load. Previous attempts at addressing such a problem were performed offline and do not consider avoiding obstacles online. In this paper, we introduce a cascaded planning scheme with a parallelized centralized trajectory optimization that deals with hybrid mode switches. We additionally develop a set of decentralized planners per robot, which enables our approach to solve the problem of collaborative load manipulation online. We develop and demonstrate one of the first collaborative autonomy framework that is able to move a cable-towed load, which is too heavy to move by a single robot, through narrow spaces with real-time feedback and reactive planning in experiments.