Collaborative Swarm Robotics for Object Transport via Caging

In swarm robotics, collective transport refers to the cooperative movement of a large object by multiple small robots, each with limited individual capabilities such as sensing, mobility, and communication. When working together, however, these simple agents can achieve complex tasks. This study explores a collective transport method based on the caging approach, which involves surrounding the object in a way that restricts its movement while still allowing limited motion, effectively preventing escape from the robot formation. The proposed approach is structured into four main phases: locating the object, recruiting additional robots, forming an initial cage around the object, and finally, performing the transportation. The method is tested using simulations in the CoppeliaSim environment, employing a team of Khepera-III robots. Performance metrics include execution time for the search and recruitment phases, and both execution time and trajectory accuracy, via a normalized error, for the transport phase. To further validate the method, a comparison is made between the caging-based strategy and a traditional pushing strategy.