581 research outputs found
Coordinated Control of a Mobile Manipulator
In this technical report, we investigate modeling, control, and coordination of mobile manipulators. A mobile manipulator in this study consists of a robotic manipulator and a mobile platform, with the manipulator being mounted atop the mobile platform. A mobile manipulator combines the dextrous manipulation capability offered by fixed-base manipulators and the mobility offered by mobile platforms. While mobile manipulators offer a tremendous potential for flexible material handling and other tasks, at the same time they bring about a number of challenging issues rather than simply increasing the structural complexity. First, combining a manipulator and a platform creates redundancy. Second, a wheeled mobile platform is subject to nonholonomic constraints. Third, there exists dynamic interaction between the manipulator and the mobile platform. Fourth, manipulators and mobile platforms have different bandwidths. Mobile platforms typically have slower dynamic response than manipulators. The objective of the thesis is to develop control algorithms that effectively coordinate manipulation and mobility of mobile manipulators.
We begin with deriving the motion equations of mobile manipulators. The derivation presented here makes use of the existing motion equations of manipulators and mobile platforms, and simply introduces the velocity and acceleration dependent terms that account for the dynamic interaction between manipulators and mobile platforms. Since nonholonomic constraints play a critical role in control of mobile manipulators, we then study the control properties of nonholonomic dynamic systems, including feedback linearization and internal dynamics. Based on the newly proposed concept of preferred operating region, we develop a set of coordination algorithms for mobile manipulators. While the manipulator performs manipulation tasks, the mobile platform is controlled to always bring the configuration of the manipulator into a preferred operating region. The control algorithms for two types of tasks - dragging motion and following motion - are discussed in detail. The effects of dynamic interaction are also investigated.
To verify the efficacy of the coordination algorithms, we conduct numerical simulations with representative task trajectories. Additionally, the control algorithms for the dragging motion and following motion have been implemented on an experimental mobile manipulator. The results from the simulation and experiment are presented to support the proposed control algorithms
Control of Cooperating Mobile Manipulators
We describe a framework and control algorithms for coordinating multiple mobile robots with manipulators focusing on tasks that require grasping, manipulation and transporting large and possibly flexible objects without special purpose fixtures. Because each robot has an independent controller and is autonomous, the coordination and synergy are realized through sensing and communication. The robots can cooperatively transport objects and march in a tightly controlled formation, while also having the capability to navigate autonomously. We describe the key aspects of the overall hierarchy and the basic algorithms, with specific applications to our experimental testbed consisting of three robots. We describe results from many experiments that demonstrate the ability of the system to carry flexible boards and large boxes as well as the system’s robustness to alignment and odometry errors
Control of Cooperating Mobile Manipulators
We describe a framework and control algorithms for coordinating multiple mobile robots with manipulators focusing on tasks that require grasping, manipulation and transporting large and possibly flexible objects without special purpose fixtures. Because each robot has an independent controller and is autonomous, the coordination and synergy are realized through sensing and communication. The robots can cooperatively transport objects and march in a tightly controlled formation, while also having the capability to navigate autonomously. We describe the key aspects of the overall hierarchy and the basic algorithms, with specific applications to our experimental testbed consisting of three robots. We describe results from many experiments that demonstrate the ability of the system to carry flexible boards and large boxes as well as the system’s robustness to alignment and odometry errors
Robust Motion Control for Mobile Manipulator Using Resolved Acceleration and Proportional-Integral Active Force Control
A resolved acceleration control (RAC) and proportional-integral active force
control (PIAFC) is proposed as an approach for the robust motion control of a
mobile manipulator (MM) comprising a differentially driven wheeled mobile
platform with a two-link planar arm mounted on top of the platform. The study
emphasizes on the integrated kinematic and dynamic control strategy in which
the RAC is used to manipulate the kinematic component while the PIAFC is
implemented to compensate the dynamic effects including the bounded
known/unknown disturbances and uncertainties. The effectivenss and robustness
of the proposed scheme are investigated through a rigorous simulation study and
later complemented with experimental results obtained through a number of
experiments performed on a fully developed working prototype in a laboratory
environment. A number of disturbances in the form of vibratory and impact
forces are deliberately introduced into the system to evaluate the system
performances. The investigation clearly demonstrates the extreme robustness
feature of the proposed control scheme compared to other systems considered in
the study
Formation of Multiple Groups of Mobile Robots Using Sliding Mode Control
Formation control of multiple groups of agents finds application in large
area navigation by generating different geometric patterns and shapes, and also
in carrying large objects. In this paper, Centroid Based Transformation (CBT)
\cite{c39}, has been applied to decompose the combined dynamics of wheeled
mobile robots (WMRs) into three subsystems: intra and inter group shape
dynamics, and the dynamics of the centroid. Separate controllers have been
designed for each subsystem. The gains of the controllers are such chosen that
the overall system becomes singularly perturbed system. Then sliding mode
controllers are designed on the singularly perturbed system to drive the
subsystems on sliding surfaces in finite time. Negative gradient of a potential
based function has been added to the sliding surface to ensure collision
avoidance among the robots in finite time. The efficacy of the proposed
controller is established through simulation results.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
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