Dynamic simulation of a kinematically redundant manipulator system

A number of methods have been proposed for the control of kinematically redundant manipulators, that is, those with more than the minimum number of degrees of freedom. This article uses a dynamic simulation to test whether proposed schemes should, in fact, work well when the dynamics of the actual system are considered. In order to perform a realistic simulation, a nine-degree-of-freedom arm has been designed using commercially available motors. The simulation shows the effects that specifying a secondary goal has on the satisfaction of the primary goal. Also shown is the dependence of servo performance on modeling the load.     

A master-slave manipulator for excavation and construction tasks

Currently used excavators and other construction machines use hydraulic actuators as the means of providing the necessary power to their effector tooling. The tools lack the flexibility of applying varying forces on an excavated object, thus preventing the use of powered equipment for the excavation and handling of buried sensitive objects. The prototype design of a master-slave force-feedback hydraulic manipulator described here will enable equipment operators to “feel” the force applied by the tool on a handled object as well as its location in space. This new tool may be provided as an optional feature on the traditional excavators, thus contributing to a greater flexibility of these machines and to the productivity enhancement of related work tasks.     

Control and simulation for a closed-chain dual redundant ' manipulator system

The two-level hierarchical control scheme is adopted to solve a dual-chain robotic system formed by two redundant manipulators grasping a common object with hard point contacts. The upper-level coordinator gathers all the necessary information to resolve the force distribution problem so as to generate all the desired contact forces With all the desired contact forces being specified, the dynamics of each chain are decoupled. Therefore, the lower-level local control problem can be treated as a general open-chain redundant manipulator problem. Furthermore, the Compact-Dual LP method is applied to resolve the upper-level coordination problem; while the Compact QP method associated with the computed torque control method is adopted to solve the redundant manipulator problem. To obtain proper simulation results, the simulated actual contact forces are formulated and the corresponding simulation problem of the closed-chain robotic system is also completely solved in the article. Simulation results show that the two-level hierarchical control scheme is an effective and efficient algorithm for resolving the large-scale control problem of multiple-chain robotic systems. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Manoeuvrability of a master-slave manipulator with different configurations and its evaluation tests

^_Recently, much research on master-slave manipulators with different configurations (MSM-DC) has been conducted, but the manoeuvrability between different structural arms has not been sufficiently discussed. Thus, an MSM-DC with six degrees of freedom (DOF) using an orthogonal-type master arm has been developed and its manoeuvrability has been studied with the aid of some basic experiments. The results were as follows: (1) the MSM-DC can be operated as easily as a conventional MSM that uses a replica master arm; (2) the slave arm position and the reflecting force of the master arm are correctly generated by coordinate transformation between the slave arm and the master ann; (3) the master-slave mode is suitable for performing a fine task, compared with the joystick mode; and (4) the function of changing the transformation point, which is newly proposed, from the master arm to the slave arm is effective in carrying out a task which has a revolving point. In addition, quantitative evaluation of the manoeuvrability of an MSM was investigated using a pattern trace.     

Fault-tolerant motion planning and control of redundant manipulator

One important issue in the motion planning of a kinematic redundant manipulator is fault tolerance. In general, if the motion planner is fault tolerant, the manipulator can achieve the required path of the end-effector even when its joint fails. In this situation, the contribution of the faulty joint to the end-effector is required to be compensated by the healthy joints to maintain the prescribed end-effector trajectory. To achieve this, this paper proposes a fault-tolerant motion planning scheme by adding a simple fault-tolerant equality constraint for the faulty joint. Such a scheme is then unified into a quadratic program (QP), which incorporates joint-physical constraints such as joint limits and joint-velocity limits. In addition, a numerical computing solver based on linear variational inequalities (LVI) is presented for the real-time QP solving. Simulative studies and experimental results based on a six degrees-of-freedom (DOF) redundant robot manipulator with variable joint-velocity limits substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant scheme and its solution.     

Equilibrium point control of a robot manipulator using biologically-inspired redundant actuation system

Unlike their robotic counterparts, humans excel at various contact tasks even in unknown environments by utilizing their ability to adaptively modulate the arm impedance. As one of many theories in human motor control, the equilibrium point control hypothesis suggests that multi-joint limb movements can be achieved by shifting the equilibrium positions defined by the central nervous system and utilizing the spring-like property of the peripheral neuromuscular system. To generate human arm-like compliant motion, this study implements the equilibrium point control on a robot manipulator using redundant actuation: two actuators are installed on each joint: one to control the joint position and the other to control the joint stiffness, respectively. With the double-actuator unit, the equilibrium position and stiffness (or impedance) can be independently programmed. Also, it is possible to estimate the contact force based on angle measurement with a user-specified stiffness. These features enable the robot manipulator to execute stable and safe movement in contact tasks. A two-link manipulator equipped with the double-actuator units was developed, and experimental results from teleoperated contact tasks show the potential of the proposed approach.     

Window-shaped obstacle avoidance for a redundant manipulator

The window-shaped obstacle avoidance problem is studied in this paper. Several research papers regarding obstacle avoidance including the method proposed by Zghal et al., which we believe is the most suitable for three-dimensional (3-D) window-shaped obstacle avoidance are studied. Consequently, several shortcomings of the Zghal's method are discovered. The Zghal's method will produce chattering solution sequences in joint rates due to its deficiency in determining the shortest distance between the manipulator links and the window edges. This paper proposes a new scheme to determine the shortest distance. This new scheme will remedy the chattering problem. Moreover, the nearest link (NL) method is developed for further improvement. Because the NL method only considers the nearest link in the performance criterion, the on-line weighting assignment problem of the Zghal's method is removed, also, less redundancy is required to accomplish the goal for obstacle avoidance. Therefore, the NL method will allow more redundancy to be useful for the other goals under multiple-goal application environments.     

Path tracking with the links of a planar hyper- redundant robotic manipulator

A technique for path tracking with the links of a planar hyper-redundant robotic manipulator is presented. It is a joint-space trajectory planning method that can be used for obstacle avoidance by ensuring that the links of the manipulator closely follow a collision-free path planned for the tool. A closed-form formulation of resolved-motion rate control equations is developed that decomposes the manipulator into proximal and distal parts. The joint velocities are constrained to ensure that the far distal links remain tangent to the tool path, while the near distal links and the proximal links assume a compressed configuration near the base. Path tracking is illustrated with several examples that examine the effects of controller gain, link length, and number of links. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dynamic formulation and performance evaluation of the redundant parallel manipulator

The dynamic formulation and performance evaluation of the redundant parallel manipulator are presented in this paper. By means of the principle of virtual work and the concept of link Jacobian matrices, the inverse dynamic model of the redundant parallel manipulator is set up. It consists of six linear consistent equations with eight unknown quantities. Then, the optimum solution of the actuating torques is achieved by employing the Moore-Penrose inverse matrix. It is with minimum norm and least quadratic sum among the possible actuating torque vectors. A series of new dynamic performance indices with obvious physical meanings have been proposed in the paper. By decoupling the inverse dynamics in the exhaustive way, a novel dynamic performance index combining the acceleration, velocity and gravity terms of the dynamic equations has been presented to evaluate the dynamic characteristic of the redundant parallel manipulator. With the index, it is possible to control the performance in the different direction. The index has been applied to the dynamic characteristic evaluation of the redundant parallel manipulator in the simulation. It is general and can be used for the dynamic performance evaluation of other types of parallel manipulators.     

Visual servoing of redundant manipulator with Jacobian matrix estimation using self-organizing map

Vision based redundant manipulator control with a neural network based learning strategy is discussed in this paper. The manipulator is visually controlled with stereo vision in an eye-to-hand configuration. A novel Kohonen’s self-organizing map (KSOM) based visual servoing scheme has been proposed for a redundant manipulator with 7 degrees of freedom (DOF). The inverse kinematic relationship of the manipulator is learned using a Kohonen’s self-organizing map. This learned map is shown to be an approximate estimate of the inverse Jacobian, which can then be used in conjunction with the proportional controller to achieve closed loop servoing in real-time. It is shown through Lyapunov stability analysis that the proposed learning based servoing scheme ensures global stability. A generalized weight update law is proposed for KSOM based inverse kinematic control, to resolve the redundancy during the learning phase. Unlike the existing visual servoing schemes, the proposed KSOM based scheme eliminates the computation of the pseudo-inverse of the Jacobian matrix in real-time. This makes the proposed algorithm computationally more efficient. The proposed scheme has been implemented on a 7 DOF PowerCube? robot manipulator with visual feedback from two cameras.     

Robust nonlinear control of a planar 2-DOF parallel manipulator with redundant actuation

A new robust nonlinear controller is presented and applied to a planar 2-DOF parallel manipulator with redundant actuation. The robust nonlinear controller is designed by combining the nonlinear PD (NPD) control with the robust dynamics compensation. The NPD control is used to eliminate the trajectory disturbances, unmodeled dynamics and nonlinear friction, and the robust control is used to restrain the model uncertainties of the parallel manipulator. The proposed controller is proven to guarantee the uniform ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop system by the Lyapunov theory. The trajectory tracking experiment with the robust nonlinear controller is implemented on an actual planar 2-DOF parallel manipulator with redundant actuation. The experimental results are compared with the augmented PD (APD) controller, and the proposed controller shows much better trajectory tracking accuracy.     

基于止血机制的冗余并联机器人精准容错控制

冗余并联机器人具有冗余容错能力,能在局部故障的情况下继续工作.而设备的机械间隙无法完全避免,并且较难建立精准的机械间隙模型,因此基于运动学冗余的常规容错方法较难实现精准容错控制.基于生理止血调控机制,考虑冗余并联机器人控制特性和机械间隙因素,提出一种新颖的精准容错控制器.与止血机制类似,该控制器不但能够进行子通道误差优化,而且能进行全局故障辨识和容错补偿.利用2-DOF冗余并联机器人进行了真实实验.结果表明,提出的精准容错控制器的控制精度和容错能力均比传统控制器有较大提高.     

On the local fault tolerance of a kinematically redundant manipulator

This work examines the local fault tolerance of a kinematically redundant manipulator to failures that result in the immobilization of one or more joints. Immobilizing a joint results in additional singularities, which are called locally fault intolerant configurations. These configurations are characterized by the null space of the manipulator Jacobian. The effect that joint failures have on manipulator dexterity is then investigated. It is shown that the reduction in the manipulator's dexterity is also related to the null space of the manipulator Jacobian. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A local solution with global characteristics for the joint torque optimization of a redundant manipulator

In this article, a stable local solution with global characteristics is developed for the joint torque optimization problem in redundant robotic manipulators. It is shown that the local optimization of the inertia inverse weighted dynamic torque corresponds to the global kinetic energy minimization problem. The proposed local-global alternative to the joint torque optimization problem is compared for stability and torque optimality with five different methods used for redundancy resolution of robotic manipulators at the acceleration level. The proposed local-global solution has been implemented and tested on a planar four-DOF kinematically redundant lab robot which was designed and built at Southwest Research Institute (SWRI). Several numerical simulations confirm the positive advantages of solutions which have a local as well as a global interpretation. In addition, a “dynamic manipulation index” is introduced to monitor the stability of an optimization problem in a kinematically redundant robot.     

Robust motion control with the consideration algorithm of joint torque saturation for a redundant manipulator

As each joint actuator of a robot manipulator has a limit value of torque, the motion control system should consider the torque saturation. In order to consider the torque saturation in a transient state, this paper proposes a new redundant motion control system using the autonomous consideration algorithm on torque saturation. A Jacobian matrix of a redundant robot manipulator can select the optimal one considering its motion energy in the steady state. When the motion control system carries out fast motion and quick disturbance suppression, a high joint torque is required in a transient state. In the experimental results, under the condition of having a large payload torque and a fast motion reference, the proposed redundant manipulator control realizes the quick robot motion robustly and smoothly.     

Compensation of velocity and/or acceleration joint saturation applied to redundant manipulator

The article describes a new method for velocity/acceleration redistribution in order to compensate joint velocity and/or acceleration saturation. The method is designed for redundant manipulators. When some of the joint velocities/accelerations are in saturation other joints compensate for the lack of the velocity and the velocity in the task space remains unchanged. Without the compensation the task space error would appear. Using the compensation method we can achieve maximal velocity/acceleration in the task space while preserving joint velocity/acceleration within limits. The method is also appropriate to compensate a torque saturation. Additionally, we have introduced a condition that shows if the compensation is kinematically and mathematically possible or not.     

Precise trajectory control of a redundant flexible manipulator on a space platform

In this paper, we propose a trajectory control method for a redundant flexible space manipulator with slewing and deployable links on a space platform. This method consists manipulator tip position feedback with a transposed Jacobian matrix and local vibration control. We newly derive the Jacobian matrix for a flexible manipulator considering link deformation with the assumed modes method. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this method. We use dynamics consisting of an order N algorithm for N bodies, based on the non-recursive Lagrangian approach, to simulate the dynamics of an orbiting manipulator with an arbitrary number of slewing and deployable flexible links.     

Collision-avoidance for redundant robots through control of the self-motion of the manipulator

A new method to on-line collision-avoidance of the links of redundant robots with obstacles is presented. The method allows the use of redundant degrees of freedom such that a manipulator can avoid obstacles while tracking the desired end-effector trajectory. It is supposed that the obstacles in the workspace of the manipulator are presented by convex polygons. The recognition of collisions of the links of the manipulator with obstacles results on-line through a nonsensory method. For every link of the redundant manipulator and every obstacle a boundary ellipse is defined in workspace such that there is no collision if the robot joints are outside these ellipses. In case a collision is imminent, the collision-avoidance algorithm compute the self-motion movements necessary to avoid the collision. The method is based on coordinate transformation and inverse kinematics and leads to the favorable use of the abilities of redundant robots to avoid the collisions with obstacles while tracking the end-effector trajectory. This method has the advantage that the configuration of the manipulator after collision-avoidance can be influenced by further requirements such as avoidance of singularities, joint limits, etc. The effectiveness of the proposed method is discussed by theoretical considerations and illustrated by simulation of the motion of three-and four-link planar manipulators between obstacles.     

Failure tolerant teleoperation of a kinematically redundant manipulator: an experimental study

Teleoperated robots in harsh environments have a significant likelihood of failures. It has been shown in previous work that a common type of failure such as that of a joint "locking up," when unidentified by the robot controller, can cause considerable performance degradation in the local behavior of the manipulator even for simple point-to-point motion tasks. The effects of a failure become more critical for a system with a human in the loop, where unpredictable behavior of the robotic arm can completely disorient the operator. In this experimental study involving teleoperation of a graphically simulated kinematically redundant manipulator, two control schemes, the pseudoinverse and a proposed failure-tolerant inverse, were randomly presented under both nonfailure and failure scenarios to a group of operators. Based on performance measures derived from the recorded trajectory data and operator ratings of task difficulty, it is seen that the failure-tolerant inverse kinematic control scheme improved the performance of the human/robot system.