Control of mobile manipulators following a moving surface

Abstract

A control algorithm for mobile manipulators is presented. The task for the mobile manipulator is to follow a moving surface. The control algorithm is developed based on the concept of a preferred operating region. The nonholonomically constrained mobile platform is controlled to bring the end point of the manipulator into the preferred operating region. The manipulator is force-controlled to keep in contact with the moving surface. The control algorithm is tested on an experimental mobile manipulator built from a TRC LABMATE mobile platform and a PUMA 250 robot manipulator. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the control algorithm.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>