Robust motion/force control of cooperative multi-arm systems

The authors outline the development of a robust controller for the cooperative multiarm manipulation of a single object. Based on a derived model of closed-chain dynamic behavior, a controller consisting of nonlinear compensation terms together with an acceleration feedback structure is proposed. This controller has the property that it simultaneously regulates the motion response and the internal force response of the object, for a given class of reference signals, over a wide range of parameter variations of the system. The desired speed of response is obtained by online tuning of two controller parameters. The effectiveness of the proposed control method was demonstrated by a simulation of two three-link planar arms jointly manipulating a rigid bar