Singularity avoidance and control of new cobotic systems with differential CVT

This work represents a novel cobotic system with differential CVT. The new system is significantly cheaper, simpler to control and more efficient than cobots with S-CVTs. Both path-guidance and power-assist functions can simply be realized with the new system. The paper addresses basic cobot structures, kinematic and dynamic models, as well as control algorithms. Kinematic singularity problems, which in cobotic systems appear to be more complex than in robotic structures, are also considered. Experiments with the first industrial cobot prototype, which is implemented in a SCARA manipulator arm, demonstrate the performance of novel singularity avoidance and control algorithms.