Surface Tracking System Based on Closed-Loop Force Control of Manipulator

Abstract

Position control was applied to industrial robots when they carry out tasks such as handling, stacking, welding. However, carrying out complex tasks like grinding, polishing and deburring requires more. In these cases, the contact force, between the manipulator's end effector and the working environment, also needs to be controlled to achieve compliance. The surface tracking based on force control is the key technology for industrial robots to perform tasks like grinding, polishing. Force control requires robots to sense the information of the external environment. In this paper, a Six-Axis Force/Torque Transducer is used to acquire the contact force between the tool and the surface. Then we use the constant contact force control algorithm, together with the orientation adjustment strategy, to keep the contact force constant and ensure the tool vertical to the contact surface to realize the surface tracking. Experiments show that the scheme is efficient, and has a certain guiding significance for manipulator in industrial production tasks where force control is required.