Robotic tile placement through adaptive control strategies

The authors investigate the use of a robot manipulator for the execution of a construction task traditionally carried out by human operators, such the placing of ceramic tiles on a surface. The motivations for a robotic approach to this field are discussed, and the specific subtask identified for investigation is described. The execution of the tile posing procedures has been investigated using a PUMA 562 manipulator. The system architecture and the active force control methods implemented for optimizing these procedures are described, and some preliminary experimental results are presented.<>