Reactive motion planning and control for compliant and constraint-based task execution

In this work, we propose a constraint-based algorithm for combined trajectory generation and kinematic control for robotic manipulators. The main feature of the algorithm is to ease robot programming, shifting from an imperative paradigm, in which task constraints are semantically and uniquely mapped into a suitable end-effector velocity profile, towards a declarative motion programming, where such constraints are turned by the controller into motion commands only at run-time: The system embeds the capability of handling real-time events, such as updated sensor readings, with reduced pre-programmed control logics. An experimental case study based on a 7-DOF robot demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach.