On the geometric control of internal forces in power grasps

Abstract

The geometric approach to the control of internal forces for robotic grasping is explored. Since the manipulation of deformable objects is a frequent occurrence (medical applications, manipulation of rubber and plastic in industry), manipulation systems with significant contact elasticity are studied. The presence of non-negligible compliance at the contacts, implies that the object dynamics cannot be neglected when attempting to control internal forces without affecting the object position. A geometric approach to derive a control law decoupling the internal force control action from the object dynamics is proposed.