Contact task with an unknown inclined plane

In recent years, intelligent robots that work automatically have become required. Conventional robots have been used in specific environments, but these new robots are going to be used in universal environments that are not constant. For that reason, in this study, we attach two visual sensors, which are CCD cameras, and one force sensor to a robot to provide information on the outside environment. The robot execute contact task, for example, wiping windows, the robot manipulator perpendicularly and flexibly contacts the environment. For perpendicular contact, it is necessary to detect the angle of the plane and for flexible contact, it is essential to utilize a universal force controller. In this paper, we propose two newly developed methods. One is the angle detection of the inclined plane by perspective, and the second is the universal force controller that contains of variable stiffness impedance controller and sliding mode controller. Angle detection and contact task were carried out using the proposed control system and the practicability of this method was verified.