Collaborative Bimanual Manipulation Using Optimal Motion Adaptation and Interaction Control: Retargeting Human Commands to Feasible Robot Control References

Abstract

This article presents a robust and reliable human–robot collaboration (HRC) framework for bimanual manipulation. We propose an optimal motion adaptation method to retarget arbitrary human commands to feasible robot pose references while maintaining payload stability. The framework comprises three modules: 1) <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a task-space sequential equilibrium and inverse kinematics optimization</i> ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">task-space SEIKO</i> ) for retargeting human commands and enforcing feasibility constraints, 2) an admittance controller to facilitate compliant human–robot physical interactions, and 3) a low-level controller improving stability during physical interactions. Experimental results show that the proposed framework successfully adapted infeasible and dangerous human commands into continuous motions within safe boundaries and achieved stable grasping and maneuvering of large and heavy objects on a real dual-arm robot via teleoperation and physical interaction. Furthermore, the framework demonstrated the capability in the assembly task of building blocks and the insertion task of industrial power connectors.