A robust force controller: theory and experiments

In most applications of manipulating systems, the manipulator has to make contact with rigid fixtures in its environment. In practice, it has been noticed that the performance of the contact force controllers is affected when the manipulator is in contact with a rigid environment or in the presence of uncertainties. A model of the manipulator in contact with a rigid environment is presented, and a robust control architecture based on a general theory of a servomechanism for controlling the contact force is proposed. The results of this work are demonstrated experimentally using a two-degree-of-freedom direct drive robot