Reduced Order Model and Decoupled Control Architecture for Two Manipulators Holding a Rigid Object

Abstract

A dynamical model and a control architecture are developed for the closed chain motion of two N-joint manipulators holding a rigid object in a three-dimensional workspace. Dynamic and kinematic constraints are determined and combined with the equations of motion of the manipulators to obtain a dynamical model of the entire system in the joint space. Reduced order equations of motion and a functional relation for the generalized contact forces are derived. The problem of solving the reduced order model for the forward and inverse dynamics is discussed. Control laws are determined for the reduced order model so as to decouple the force and position (velocity) controlled degrees of freedom (DOF). A simulation example is presented to illustrate the approach.