An Adaptive Coordinated Control Scheme for Multi-Manipulator Systems

In this paper, the problem of adaptive coordinated control of multiple robot arms transporting an object is addressed. A concise dynamic model is proposed, which is amiable to controller design and stability analysis. Based on this dynamic model, an adaptive scheme for both trajectory tracking control and internal force control is presented. Detailed analyses on tracking properties of the object position, velocity and the internal forces exerted on the object are given. The paper shows that this control scheme can achieve satisfactory tracking performance without using the measurement of contact forces and their derivatives. In addition, some implementation issues for the scheme are discussed.