Equilibrium-Driven Smooth Separation and Navigation of Marsupial Robotic Systems

--In this paper, we propose an equilibrium-driven controller that enables a marsupial carrier-passenger robotic system to achieve smooth carrier-passenger separation and then to navigate the passenger robot toward a predetermined target point. This introduces multiple equilibrium points corresponding to the zero state of the error dynamic system during carrier-passenger separation. The change of equilibrium points is associated with the change in their attraction regions, enabling smooth carrier-passenger separation and afterwards seamless navigation toward the target. Finally, simulations demonstrate the effectiveness and adaptability of the proposed controller in environments containing obstacles. Over the years, the coordination of multi-robot systems (MRSs) has played an important role in a wide range of applications, including urban search and rescue, environmental monitoring, delivery, and collaborative convoying [1]-[3].