Synchronization and consensus of a robot network on an underactuated dynamic platform

This paper presents an analysis of the synchronization and consensus problems of networked manipulators operating on an underactuated dynamic platform. The proposed formulation does not require detailed information about the system model. A theoretical analysis shows that the controlled system's behavior matches closely to that of a nonadaptive reference system with fast adaptation. The tracking-synchronization objective is achieved despite the presence of actuator delay, communication delay, and the unknown dynamics of the platform. When there is no common desired trajectory, the modified controller drives all robots to a consensus configuration. The simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed control algorithms.