On the dynamic manipulability of cooperating multiple arm robot systems

In this paper, dynamic constraints are considered for the analysis of manipulability of robotic systems comprised of multiple cooperating arms. Given bounds on the torques of joint actuators for each robot, the purpose of this study is to derive the bounds of task acceleration of object carried by the system. Bounds on each joint torque form a polytope in joint-torque space and the task space acceleration is obtained from this polytope through dynamics and kinematics of both object and robots. A series of mathematical processes are proposed to get the reachable acceleration bounds from given robot actuator torque constrains, which includes the process for finding minimum infinite norm solutions. Several examples including two robot systems as well as PUMA560 robot systems are shown with the assumptions of complete-constraint contact model (or ´firm grip´).