Joint-space time delay compensation in leader-follower coordination of two manipulators using polynomial time functions

A scheme for the coordinated control of two manipulators carrying a common rigid object using discrete position feedback has been developed and experimentally tested using two PUMA robot arms and a hierarchical multiprocessor architecture. Since the research is heavily experimental, leader-follower coordination was adopted because of its computational efficiency. The computation of desired follower arm positions consumes one sampling interval. Another sampling interval is lost due to the fact that a desired follower arm position has to be computed before it can be assumed. The author emphasizes the design of a class of prediction equations to compensate for these timing delays. These equations are developed by computing an estimated model for the delayed desired follower arm trajectory using polynomial-time functions. Exact and least-squares spline fitting are used and compared