Interval analysis and reliability in robotics

Abstract

A robot is typical of systems that are inherently submitted to uncertainties although they should be highly reliable (i.e. for a robot used in surgical applications). The sources of uncertainties are the manufacturing tolerances of the mechanical parts constituting the robot which make the real robot always different from its theoretical model and control errors. We exhibit properties of a robot that are sensitive to the uncertainties and we present methods, using mainly interval analysis, that allow one to manage these uncertainties to ensure the reliability of the robot.