Passivity-based target manipulation inside a deformable object by a robotic system with noncollocated feedback

Abstract

Target manipulation inside a deformable object by a robotic system is necessary in many medical and industrial applications. However, this is a challenging problem because of the difficulty of imposing the motion of the internal target point by a finite number actuation points located at the boundary of the deformable object. In this work, an optimal contact formulation and a control action are presented, in which a deformable object is externally manipulated with multiple robotic fingers such that an internal target point is positioned to a desired location. First, we formulate an optimization technique that minimizes the total force applied to the object to determine the location of actuation points to affect the desired motion. Then, a passivity-based control approach, based on energy monitoring and dissipation, is developed to improve stability of the whole system. The simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.