A weight-distributing placement algorithm for large teams of lifting robots

The vast majority of established work involving teams of lifting robots overlooks an important aspect of teamwork: sharing the weight evenly among the lifters. Distributing weight evenly among the robots ensures that no robots are overburdened while still allowing the minimum number of robots to be used.;This thesis develops an algorithm for determining placements of robots around a polygon such that the weight borne by each robot is near-equal. Our algorithm aims to maximize the stability of the lifted object by placing robots strategically to maximize the lifting base. By placing robots in teams of two directly across the object's centre of mass, we are able to ensure a stable lift with equal weight distribution. The initial algorithm, has a runtime of O(mn) and determines robot placements for convex polygons. This algorithm is then extended to work for all simple polygons with a runtime increase to O(n 4).