An Adaptive Force Control Architecture with Fast-Response and Robustness in Uncertain Environment

One of the fundamental requirements for the success of a manipulation task is the capacity to handle the interaction between manipulator and environment. However, there are many uncertain factors during the interaction, such as the shape of objects, contact stiffness, and external interference. The performance of force control pursues fast-response and robustness, but it is not an effective solution to apply the traditional impedance control to track force in an uncertain environment. Herein, an adaptive force control architecture is proposed, which has the capability to compensate for environmental uncertainties. Simulations and experiments of tracking constant/variable desired force in constant/variable stiffness environment and on an unknown shape surface are carried out. The proposed approach is contrasted with some classic methods in the indexes of overshoot, transient response, tracking error, and robustness. The results comparison confirms that the proposed control law is superior in fast-response and robustness in uncertain environments.

Automated summary

An adaptive force control architecture is proposed in this study, which can compensate for environmental uncertainties and exhibit superior fast-response and robustness in uncertain environments compared to classic methods.