Hybrid velocity/force control for robot navigation in compliant unknown environments

We combine a hybrid force-/position-control scheme with a potential field approach into a novel method for collision recovery and navigation in unknown environments. It can be implemented both on manipulators and mobile robots. The use of force sensors allows us to locally sense the environment and design a dynamic control law. Multiple Lyapunov functions are used to establish asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. The switching conditions and stability criteria are established under reasonable assumptions on the type of obstacles present in the environment. Extensive simulation results are presented to illustrate the system behavior under the designed control scheme, and verify its stability, collision recovery, and navigation properties.