Specification and generation of a motion path for compliant motion

To represent compliant motion, the authors present a theory for specifying and generating the motion path of a robot in contact with the environment. Included is a formulation for specifying single contact motion, in which only one geometric feature (a vertex, an edge, or a plant) or a robot and one geometric feature of the environment participate. Single contact motion is categorized into four types according to the combinations of the movabilities of the contact positions on the robot and the environment. For each type of single contact motion, an interpolating transformation is assigned to generate motion from the path specification. In addition, motion constraints are provided according to combinations of geometric features. A geometric model of the task environment allows the formulation to be applied to automatic path generation in programming motion segments