Automatic synthesis and verification of compliance mappings

When the uncertainty is large compared to clearances between objects, some form of compliance is required for a robot to manipulate these objects. Such situations include, but are not restricted to, assembly operations. Compliance can be thought of as a task-dependent mapping from sensed forces to corrective motions which bring the robot closer to its goal. A methodology for the automated synthesis of this mapping is described. The possible erroneous configurations of the robot together with their resulting contact forces are computed, and a corrective motion is identified for each configuration. The validity of the mapping is checked to ensure that the sensed forces will provide unambiguous information during the actual execution of the planned compliant motion