Control of Robots with Elastic Joints Interacting with Dynamic Environment

In this paper, the control of robots with elastic joints in contact with dynamic environment is considered. It is shown how control laws synthesized for the robots with rigid joints interacting with dynamic environment can also be used in the case of robots with elastic joints. The proposed control laws are based on a robot model interacting with dynamic environment, including the dynamics of actuators and the elasticity of joints. The proposed control laws possess two feedback loops: the outer, serving for on-line calculation of the motor shaft angle based on the position error or the contact force error, and the inner one, serving for performing stabilization around the calculated motor shaft angle. Simulation results which exhibit the application of the appropriate control laws are also presented.