Unified control for dynamic cooperative manipulation

This paper proposes a unified coordinated motion control algorithm of manipulators, which is applicable to both manipulation of an object and a parts-mating task. First, the authors consider the manipulation of an object by impedance controlled manipulators; the impedance of each arm is designed so that the apparent impedance of the manipulated object is specified. Then the authors consider the parts-mating problem using the same control algorithm proposed for the manipulation of a single object. The authors propose a method to design the impedance of each arm so that the relative motion of two manipulators has the dynamics of the remote center compliance. The experimental results using two industrial robots illustrate the validity of the proposed control system