Geometric grasping and telemanipulation

In this paper, an extension of the so-called intrinsic passive control (IPC) is illustrated, showing that an improvement of performances can be achieved by considering different types of energy-storing elements, i.e. "springs", in the IPC. In particular, two new "springs" are introduced: a \´variable rest length\´ spring and a \´variable stiffness\´ spring, that are properly defined in order to maintain the passivity of the IPC and to improve its performances in given situations. Simulations of the resulting control, applied to a defective system and to a simple telemanipulation device, are presented and discussed