A passive formulation of force control for kinematically constrained manipulators

In this article, the problem of force feedback control of kinematically constrained manipulators (KCMs) is considered. For these robots, we show that the force component selection approach is not appropriate in general to solve the force control problem. Moreover, by formulating the problem in the joint space, we show how to properly design a stable force controller for KCMs subject to arbitrary external forces applied to their end-effector. Experimental results with a kinematically constrained laparoscopic comanipulator illustrate these propositions