Extending an industrial root controller : implementation and applications of a fast open sensor interface

An overview is given of the design and implementation of a platform for fast external sensor integration in an industrial robot system called ABB S4CPlus. As an application and motivating example, the implementation of force-controlled grinding and deburring within the AUTOFETT-project is discussed. Experiences from industrial usage of the fully developed prototype confirms the appropriateness of the design choices, thus also confirming the fact that control and software need to be tightly integrated. The new sensor can be used for the prototyping and development of a wide variety of new application

Implementation of industrial robot force control case study: high power stub grinding and deburring

In this paper, the results from a joint industry-academia project in industrial robotic force control are presented. The extension and implementation of an external sensor system for an industrial robot system, which can be used for high-bandwidth force control, are described. Results from two industrial applications using the system are presented, a stub grinding application using a new compliant grinding end-effector integrated with the robot control system, and a deburring application with a stiff tool requiring high-bandwidth force control in six degrees of freedom. Using the system an easily reconfigurable control structure was achieved, which was able to control contact forces with a sampling bandwidth of an order of magnitude higher than for conventional robot controllers. © 2006 IEEE.status: publishe

Force Control

Robotic force control refers to the control and programmable specification of the interaction forces between a robot end effector and the work object, where either the end effector or the work object is attached to the robot manipulator. A rudimentary approach is to consider the joint torques and controlled variables, and then to compute those torques such that a presumably rigid manipulator effectuates the desired forces. In practice, however, manipulators are not rigid, joint torques are accomplished from servo-controlled motors via joint transmissions with nonlinear dynamics, the control structure has to obey stake-holder aspects in industry. Based on algorithmic insights and experiences from industrial applications, the force control topic is explained with core scientific approaches as the starting point, then extending the descriptions such that the industrial aspects are covered via established principles for joint servo control