Stability Analysis of a Floating Multirobot Coordinated Towing System Based on the Stability Cone Method

Currently, the cranes used at sea do not have enough flexibility, efficiency, and safety. Thus, this study proposed a floating multirobot coordinated towing system to meet the demands for offshore towing. Because of the flexibility of rope-driven robots, the one-way pulling characteristics of the rope, and the floating characteristics of the base, towing robots are easily overturned. First, the spatial configuration of the towing system was established according to the towing task, and the kinematic model of the towing system was established using the coordinate transformation. Then, the dynamic model of the towing system was established according to the rigid-body dynamics and hydrodynamic theory. Finally, the stability of the towing system was analyzed using the stability cone method. The simulation experiments provide a reference for the practical application of the floating multirobot coordinated towing system, which can improve the stability of towing systems by changing the configuration of the towing robot.