Towards the Adaptive Control of a Multirobot System for an Elastic Hose

This paper reports initial steps in the study of control strategies for a multi-robot system trying to move a flexible hose. Our starting point is the hose geometry modeling using cubic splines. The control problem is then stated as the problem of reaching a desired configuration of the spline control points from an initial configuration. The control of the hose by the multi-robot system is first solved neglecting the hose internal dynamics. This is the simplest ideal case. Then we give a model for the internal dynamics. Future and on going work is addressing the definition of a control system that takes into account the hose internal dynamic constraints.