A passivity-based control scheme for robotic grasping and manipulation

Presents and discusses the application of an impedance control strategy to robotic grasping tasks. This control strategy, that can be used for both tips and full grasps, is based on two fundamental aspects. The first is the so-called `virtual object´ concept, by means of which the modalities of interaction between the fingers and the real objects can be properly defined. The second is the `damping injection´ principle, which allows a stable execution of the planned task. Major advantages of the presented strategy are the physical intuition on which it is based and its passive nature and which ensures stability in all the situations, including the transition from no contact to contact and vice versa. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the control strategy