An approach to real-time control of robots in task space. Application to control of PUMA 560 without VAL-II

An approach to real-time control is presented that involves the adaption of existing (commercial) hardware and the integration of new hardware and software, such that both feedback control and offline programming using either task or joint-space coordinates are possible. The approach is illustrated in detail through the implementation of a controller that replaces the conventional Victor´s assembly language (VAL) II-based controller with the PUMA 560 robot. The controller presents an improvement over the system under VAL in a number of ways, in addition to being able to use either task or joint-space information in the most general form. In particular, the hardware and software of the new controller can accommodate novel sensory systems, robot programming languages, and dynamic models for research and evaluation of advanced control methods