Impedance control for variable stiffness mechanisms with nonlinear joint coupling

Thomas Wimböck, Christian Ott, Alin Albu-Schäffer, Andreas Kugi, Gerd Hirzinger

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current discussion on physical human robot interaction and the related safety aspects, but also the interest of neuro-scientists to validate their hypotheses on human motor skills with bio-mimetic robots, led to a recent revival of tendondriven robots. In this paper, the modeling of tendon-driven elastic systems with nonlinear couplings is recapitulated. A control law is developed that takes the desired joint position and stiffness as input. Therefore, desired motor positions are determined that are commanded to an impedance controller. We give a physical interpretation of the controller. More importantly, a static decoupling of the joint motion and the stiffness variation is given. The combination of active (controller) and passive (mechanical) stiffness is investigated. The controller stiffness is designed according to the desired overall stiffness. A damping design of the impedance controller is included in these considerations. The controller performance is evaluated in simulation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS
Pages3796-3803
Number of pages8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes
Event2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS - Nice, France
Duration: 22 Sep 200826 Sep 2008

Publication series

Name2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS

Conference

Conference2008 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityNice
Period22/09/0826/09/08

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