Multi Mobile Robot Collaboration in Industrial Applications: A Structured Survey

Multi-robot collaboration has been proposed as a solution to various problems in logistics, manufacturing and other industrial applications due to its potential for increased efficiency and flexibility. This work analyzes existing literature on the topic in form of a structured survey and provides a taxonomy and definitions. We identify four main task domains in which Multi Mobile Robot Collaboration has been employed: Collaborative Transport, Load Transfer, Collaborative Support, and Mobile Processing. For these we analyze how the subproblems of Task Planning, Motion Planning, Motion Control, and Interactive Operation are addressed and on which level the methods are evaluated. Based on this, we provide a map of existing literature and identify white spots for future research.