Advanced Control and Multiobjective Optimization of Multiple Industrial Robots

Dear Colleagues,

With the integration of mechanical, information, electronics, control, intelligence, and other interdisciplinary studies, industrial robotic applications are becoming increasingly complex in both theoretical and practical aspects. In particular, integrated collaborative robots, called multiple industrial robots (MIRs), include different typologies of robotic systems—e.g., multiple industrial manipulators, i.e., mobile robots with manipulators on board, or teams of autonomous vehicles, have been growing increasingly in various applications in recent years. The main motivation for employing MIRs is that they can be used to increase system effectiveness. In particular, with respect to a single autonomous robot or a team of noncooperating robots, MIRs can better perform a mission in terms of time and quality and can achieve tasks not executable by a single robot (e.g., moving a large object) or can take advantage of distributed sensing and actuation. A wider spatial area can also be covered more efficiently if more robots are deployed, and heterogeneous capabilities can be distributed across the team without having to dramatically change the payload (and thus price) of individual robots.

In response to advanced technology and application driving, several control and coordination strategies have already been developed for forming robots in order to collaboratively perform specific tasks using local interaction rules. The contributions to this Special Issue are expected to provide the latest results in collective analysis, estimation, optimization, coordinated control, and intelligent control of complex MIRs. Topics to be covered in this Special Issue include but are not limited to:

• Mathematical modeling of complex MIRs;
• Reduced modelling of large-scale MIRs;
• Coordinated control of heterogeneous MIRs;
• Decentralized control of MIRs;
• Analytical method of delay-coupled MIRs;
• MIRs with event-triggered computing;
• Estimation in MIRs;
• Partial synchronization of MIRs;
• Output regulation and optimization of MIRs;
• Fault diagnostics of MIRs;
• Safety and collision avoidance of MIRs;
• Intelligent control of MIRs.

Dr. Yanling Wei
Prof. Dr. Jinjun Shan
Prof. Dr. Hamid Reza Karimi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.