Force-Sensorless and Bimanual Human-Robot Comanipulation Implementation using iTaSC

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the iTaSC approach to a force-sensorless and bimanual human-robot comanipulation task on a tree-structured robot, comprising (i) co-manipulation of an object with a person, (ii) dynamic and static obstacle avoidance with its base, (iii) maintaining visual contact with the operator, and (iv) unnatural pose prevention. The task is implemented in a structured way in a reusable software framework. The paper presents a simple sensorless wrench-nulling control scheme, enabling direct human-robot interaction without the use of a force sensor. A video shows the performance of the full task in different scenarios. The paper includes quantitative results for different scenarios, to validate the ability to activate and deactivate, as well as to change the weights of different parts of the task in a stable way.