Control of Heavy Load Manipulators in Varying Environments

The aim of this paper is to present concepts for the motion control of redundant manipulators in a changing environment. In order to be able to avoid collisions with unexpected and moving obstacles,an intelligent control concept is required which combines the off-line planned paths with on-line sensor information. Solutions for the combined collision free motion control of the rcdundant degrees of freedom (d.o.f.), and the degrees of freedom of the Tool Center Point (TCP) are presented. The redundant d.o.f, are influenced by nonlinear potential forces, which can be easy introduced into concepts for the inverse kinematics. Motion control (position and orientation) of the TCP is implemented with an artificial elastic band in the workspace of the TCP, which enables it to react to modifications in the environment.