Minimum-Time Control For The Transport Of Flexible Loads By Two Manipulators

Abstract

The minimum-time pointwise motion of two manipulators grasping the same flexible object is examined in this paper. We model the object as a spring with an associated damping factor. The coordinated motion is accomplished through the specification of the trajectory for the mid-point between the two manipulators. The separate trajectories for each manipulator are not relevant per se, since they only need to preserve the desired motion of the mid-point. This freedom in the motion together with the presence of the flexible material causes the minimum time to be less than the minimum time required to move two manipulators with a rigid link between them. This result shows the advantage of exploiting the flexibility of the material being worked by two manipulators. Keywords: Multirobot systems; flexible materials; minimum-time trajectory planning and control; linear systems. 1 Introduction Flexibility is normally seen as a complicating factor in robotics. The amount of literature dedicated ..