Application of Artificial Neural Network in Robotic Hybrid Position/Force Control

A hybrid position/force controller is designed for the joint 2 and the joint 3 of thePUMA 560 robot.The hybrid controller includes a multilayered neural network,which canidentify the dynamics of the contacted environment and can optimize the parameters of PIDcontroller.The experimental results show that after having been trained,the robot has sta-ble response to the training patterns and strong adaptive ability to the situation between thepatterns.

Method for Six-Legged Robot Stepping on Obstacles by Indirect Force Estimation

Adaptive gaits for legged robots often requires force sensors installed on foot-tips,however impact,temperature or humidity can affect or even damage those sensors.Efforts have been made to realize indirect force estimation on the legged robots using leg structures based on planar mechanisms.Robot Octopus III is a six-legged robot using spatial parallel mechanism（UP-2UPS） legs.This paper proposed a novel method to realize indirect force estimation on walking robot based on a spatial parallel mechanism.The direct kinematics model and the inverse kinematics model are established.The force Jacobian matrix is derived based on the kinematics model.Thus,the indirect force estimation model is established.Then,the relation between the output torques of the three motors installed on one leg to the external force exerted on the foot tip is described.Furthermore,an adaptive tripod static gait is designed.The robot alters its leg trajectory to step on obstacles by using the proposed adaptive gait.Both the indirect force estimation model and the adaptive gait are implemented and optimized in a real time control system.An experiment is carried out to validate the indirect force estimation model.The adaptive gait is tested in another experiment.Experiment results show that the robot can successfully step on a 0.2 m-high obstacle.This paper proposes a novel method to overcome obstacles for the six-legged robot using spatial parallel mechanism legs and to avoid installing the electric force sensors in harsh environment of the robot＇s foot tips.

Force Control Compensation Method with Variable Load Stiffness and Damping of the Hydraulic Drive Unit Force Control System

Each joint of hydraulic drive quadruped robot is driven by the hydraulic drive unit（HDU）, and the contacting between the robot foot end and the ground is complex and variable, which increases the difficulty of force control inevitably. In the recent years, although many scholars researched some control methods such as disturbance rejection control, parameter self-adaptive control, impedance control and so on, to improve the force control performance of HDU, the robustness of the force control still needs improving. Therefore, how to simulate the complex and variable load characteristics of the environment structure and how to ensure HDU having excellent force control performance with the complex and variable load characteristics are key issues to be solved in this paper. The force control system mathematic model of HDU is established by the mechanism modeling method, and the theoretical models of a novel force control compensation method and a load characteristics simulation method under different environment structures are derived, considering the dynamic characteristics of the load stiffness and the load damping under different environment structures. Then, simulation effects of the variable load stiffness and load damping under the step and sinusoidal load force are analyzed experimentally on the HDU force control performance test platform, which provides the foundation for the force control compensation experiment research. In addition, the optimized PID control parameters are designed to make the HDU have better force control performance with suitable load stiffness and load damping, under which the force control compensation method is introduced, and the robustness of the force control system with several constant load characteristics and the variable load characteristics respectively are comparatively analyzed by experiment. The research results indicate that if the load characteristics are known, the force control compensation method presented in this paper has positive compensation effects on the load characteristics variation, i.e., this method decreases the effects of the load characteristics variation on the force control performance and enhances the force control system robustness with the constant PID parameters, thereby, the online PID parameters tuning control method which is complex needs not be adopted. All the above research provides theoretical and experimental foundation for the force control method of the quadruped robot joints with high robustness.

Leg compliance control of a hexapod robot based on improved adaptive control in different environments

Considering the compliance control problem of a hexapod robot under different environments, a control strategy based on the improved adaptive control algorithm is proposed. The model of robot structure and impedance control is established. Then, the indirect adaptive control algorithm is derived. Through the analysis of its parameters, it can be noticed that the algorithm does not meet the requirements of the robot compliance control in a complex environment. Therefore, the fuzzy control algorithm is used to adjust the adaptive control parameters. The satisfied system response can be obtained based on the adjustment in real time according to the error between input and output. Comparative experiments and analysis of traditional adaptive control and the improved adaptive control algorithm are presented. It can be verified that not only desired contact force can be reached quickly in different environments, but also smaller contact impact and sliding avoidance are guaranteed, which means that the control strategy has great significance to enhance the adaptability of the hexapod robot.

Hybrid force control of astronaut rehabilitative training robot under active loading mode

In order to mitigate the effects of space adaptation syndrome(SAS) and improve the training efficiency of the astronauts, a novel astronaut rehabilitative training robot(ART) was proposed. ART can help the astronauts to carry out the bench press training in the microgravity environment. Firstly, a dynamic model of cable driven unit(CDU) was established whose accuracy was verified through the model identification. Secondly, to improve the accuracy and the speed of the active loading, an active loading hybrid force controller was proposed on the basis of the dynamic model of the CDU. Finally, the actual effect of the hybrid force controller was tested by simulations and experiments. The results suggest that the hybrid force controller can significantly improve the precision and the dynamic performance of the active loading with the maximum phase lag of the active loading being 9° and the maximum amplitude error being 2% at the frequency range of 10 Hz. The controller can meet the design requirements.

METHOD OF CLASSIFYING GRASPS BY ROBOT HANDS

This research characterizes grasping by multifingered robot hands through investiga- tion of the space of contact forces into four subspaces , a method is developed to determine the di- mensions of the subspaces with respect to the connectivity of the object. The relationship reveals the differences between three types of grasps classified and indicates how the contact force can be decomposed corresponding to each type of grasp. The subspaces and the determination of their di- mensions are illlustrated by examples.

A cortical bone milling force model based on orthogonal cutting distribution method

In orthopedic surgery,the bone milling force has attracted attention owing to its significant influence on bone cracks and the breaking of tools.It is necessary to build a milling force model to improve the process of bone milling.This paper proposes a cortical bone milling force model based on the orthogonal cutting distribution method(OCDM),explaining the effect of anisotropic bone materials on milling force.According to the model,the bone milling force could be represented by the equivalent effect of a transient cutting force in a rotating period,and the transient milling force could be calculated by the transient milling force coefficients,cutting thickness,and cutting width.Based on the OCDM,the change in transient cutting force coefficients during slotting can be described by using a quadratic polynomial.Subsequently,the force model is updated for robotic bone milling,considering the low stiffness of the robot arm.Next,an experimental platform for robotic bone milling is built to simulate the milling process in clinical operation,and the machining signal is employed to calculate the milling force.Finally,according to the experimental result,the rationality of the force model is verified by the contrast between the measured and predicted forces.The milling force model can satisfy the accuracy requirement for predicting the milling force in the different processing directions,and it could promote the development of force control in orthopedic surgery.