Simulation of multi-axis compliant motions using robotic force control

For applications of industrial robot that involves physical interactions such as product assembly, active force feedback need to be added onto its original position controller. In our previous work (2000), we reported the results of the preliminary case studies of controlling contact forces in single axis that include touching a surface and following a two-dimensional contour using software simulation environment. This paper reports the results of implementing force control in performing multi-axis interactive tasks such as palletizing and cylindrical peg insertion. Based on the parallel force/position control method, with PI action, independent joint control is applied to the respective individual joint. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the simulated force-controlled robot model can be used as a test-bed for future work in evaluating various high-level fine motion planning algorithms