AbstractFor the situation of multiple cooperating manipulators handling a single object, a formulation is presented which allows load distribution of the combined system to be made while taking manipulator dynamics into account. First, object dynamics are used to transform the motion task. An integrated procedure for modeling arm dynamics is detailed. Then a method is introduced which transforms the object load to the joint level. At this level, various methods of load distribution that allow subtask performance are proposed. These methods allow desired object motion while selecting loads desirable to alleviate manipulator dynamic loads.