Multiagent-based distributed manipulator control

This paper describes a type of multiagent-based distributed manipulator control in which the execution of a task involves the interaction between multiple software modules called agents. The intent of this work is to integrate a model-based approach and a behavior-based approach under a multiagent control paradigm. This paradigm is applied to a manipulator control problem without the use of inverse kinematics. A conventional manipulator is thought of as a system composed of a group of spatially distributed freedoms, each of which is independently controllable. Our manipulator control system has multiple functional agents each of which individually attempts to contribute in a positive way toward improving the degree of the given task achievement. The experimental system for multiagent-based distributed control includes a Lisp machine, two types of sensors (force/vision) and a manipulator. An attempt is made to evaluate our control paradigm by giving the system an example task that involves the end-effector movement between two points. Agents are implemented as multiple concurrent processes programmed in Lisp.