Experimental results in manipulator contact task control

The implementation of two robotic control laws proposed in the robotics literature is presented. The discontinuous control law of J.K. Mills (1990) has been demonstrated experimentally to solve the complex problem of control of manipulators during the transition to and from contact motion. Stable transitions are seen during implementation of this control. Further, the control is seen to have a number of highly desirable features, making it attractive for use in industrial manufacturing settings. The constrained motion controller of N.H. McClamroch and D. Wang (1988) has also been implemented. Tests with this control indicate that its performance is as predicted from theory. It is seen that difficulties encountered in the implementation of the constrained motion control result from the lack of a facility to address the problem of inadvertent loss of contact during experimental runs