Dynamic Control of Soft Robots Interacting with the Environment
Despite the emergence of many soft-bodied robotic systems, model-based feedback control has remained an open challenge. This is largely due to the intrinsic difficulties in designing controllers for systems with infinite dimensions. In this paper we propose an alternative formulation of the soft ro...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115984 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5473-3566 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7143-7259 |
| Summary: | Despite the emergence of many soft-bodied robotic systems, model-based feedback control has remained an open challenge. This is largely due to the intrinsic difficulties in designing controllers for systems with infinite dimensions. In this paper we propose an alternative formulation of the soft
robot dynamics which connects the robot’s behavior with the one of a rigid bodied robot with elasticity in the joints. The matching between the two system is exact under the common hypothesis of Piecewise Constant Curvature. Based on this connection we introduce two control architectures, with the aim of achieving accurate curvature control and Cartesian
regulation of the robot’s impedance, respectively. The curvature controller accounts for the natural softness of the system, while the Cartesian controller adapts the impedance of the end effector for interactions with an unstructured environment. This work proposes the first closed loop dynamic controller for a continuous soft robot. The controllers are validated and evaluated on a physical soft robot capable of planar manipulation. |
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