Coordinating control of multiple rigid bodies based on motion primitives

This paper studies the problem of coordinated motion generation for a group of rigid bodies. Two classes of coordinated motion primitives, relative equilibria and maneuvers, are given as building blocks for generating coordinated motions. In a motion-primitive based planning framework, a control method is proposed for the robust execution of a coordinated motion plan in the presence of perturbations. The control method combines the relative equilibria stabilization with maneuver design, and results in a close-loop motion planning framework. The performance of the control method has been illustrated through a numerical simulation.