Practical control strategy for packing multiple boxes simultaneously with dual-arm robot

This paper presents a practical and efficient control strategy for packing multiple boxes simultaneously in a congested workspace. In order to successfully complete this task, dual-arm robot has to accurately grip the boxes and insert them into a packing box while avoiding obstacles. The insertion task involves the robot accurately placing each manipulator´s end-effectors at contact points for multiple boxes while avoiding obstacles, firmly gripping the multiple boxes while maintaining the alignment, lifting the boxes while maintaining the gripping force, and successfully inserting them into the packing box in succession. In other words, collision avoidance, precision control, and compliance control are required in order for a dual-arm robot to pack multiple boxes in a congested workspace. Kinematic calibration is required to manipulate dual-arm robot for bi-manual operation, but this is not easy to perform and consumes a large amount of time. Therefore, this paper proposes kinesthetic teaching and compliance control for manipulating a dual-arm robot to increase the practicality and time efficiency of the multiple box packing process.