Experiments with a dual-armed, cooperative, flexible-drivetrain robot system

The design and experimental performance of a two-armed robot are presented. The manipulators have added drivetrain flexibility to aid studying their effects on robot cooperation. The control system is a four-level hierarchy: joint, arm, object, and task levels. The joint level handles flexibility via joint-torque control. The arm level uses nonlinear end-point feedback to control tip forces and positions. The object level manages the object via object impedance control. The task level directs multistep tasks autonomously. Experiments are shown for each level, culminating with two-handed insertion of a long part into a deep hole