Sensorless Force Estimation for Robots with Friction

Abstract

This paper describes a method for estimating forces applied at the end effector of a robot without the need for force sensors.Servo motor currents and positions are used together with an accurate system model to estimate applied forces.The system model includes inertia, friction and position dependent force components.The signal processing techniques required to extract the force information from the servo motor data are detailed and experimental results from a SCARA robot presented.