A Framework for Stable Robot-Environment Interaction Based on the Generalized Scattering Transformation

This thesis deals with development and experimental evaluation of control algorithms for stabilization of robot-environment interaction based on the conic systems formalism and scattering transformation techniques. A framework for stable robot-environment interaction is presented and evaluated on a real physical system. The proposed algorithm fundamentally generalizes the conventional passivity-based approaches to the coupled stability problem. In particular, it allows for stabilization of not necessarily passive robot-environment interaction. The framework is based on the recently developed non-planar conic systems formalism and generalized scattering-based stabilization methods. A comprehensive theoretical background on the scattering transformation techniques, planar and non-planar conic systems is presented. The dynamics of the robot are estimated using data-driven techniques, which allows the equations for the dynamics of a robot to be obtained in an explicit form. The generalized scattering transformation is used in combination with the Lyapunov-based adaptive trajectory tracking control. It is shown that the original interconnected system is not stable due to its non-passive nature; however, the application of the proposed stabilization algorithm allows stability to be achieved, without affecting the robot’s trajectory tracking performance in free space