A Five-Layers Open-Architecture Robot Controller Applied To Interaction Tasks
A Five-Layers Open-Architecture Robot Controller Applied To Interaction Tasks
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An Open-architecture Robot
Controller applied to
Interaction Tasks
A. Oliveira1, E. De Pieri2 and U. Moreno2
1Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Caxias do Sul (UCS)
2Department of Automation and Systems
1. Introduction
Many current robotic applications are limited by the industry state of art of the
manipulators control algorithms. The inclusion of force and vision feedbacks, the possibility
of cooperation between two or more manipulators, the control of robots with irregular
topology will certainly enlarge the industrial robotics applications. The development of
control algorithms to this end brings the necessity of using open-architecture controllers.
Generally the robotic controllers are developed for position control, without accomplishing
integrally the requirements of tasks in which interactions with the environment occur.
Therefore, this is currently one of the main research areas in robotics, e.g., in (Abele et al.,
2007) is presented the identification of characteristics to an industrial robot to execute
machining applications. To consider this interaction the robot controller has to give priority
to the force control time response, because in the instant of end-effectors contact with the
surface, several forces act on the system. Depending on the speeds and the accelerations
involved in the process, damages or errors can occur. To avoid these effects, compliances are
inserted in tool or in surface of operation.
A new reference model for a control system functional architecture applied to open-
architecture robot controllers is presented. Where, this model is applied for integrally
development of a five-layer based open-architecture robotic controller for interaction tasks,
which uses parallel and distributed processing techniques, avoiding the necessity of
compliance in system, allowing a real-time processing of the application and the total
control of information. This architecture provides flexibility, the knowledge of all the
control structures and allows the user to modify all controller layers. The used controller
conception aims to fulfill with the following requirements: high capacity of processing, low
cost, connectivity with other systems, availability for the remote access, easiness of
maintenance, flexibility in the implementation, integration with a personal computer and
programming in high level.
100 Advances in Robot Manipulators
This chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 overviews the most relevant categories,
definitions and requirements of robot controllers. Section 3 details the reference model for
open-architecture controller development. Section 4 describes the robot retrofitting for
interactions tasks. Section 5 presents and discusses the experimental setup. Finally, Section 6
concludes the chapter and outlines future research and development directions.
2.1 Definitions
The definition of open system, according to Technical Committee of Open Systems of IEEE
is “An open system provides capabilities that enable properly implemented applications to
run on a variety of platforms from multiple vendors, interoperate with other system
applications and present a consistent styler of interaction with the user”. A open-
architecture control system has the capacity to operate with the best components of different
manufacturers. What makes possible the easy integration of new system functionalities.
From user point of view, the “openness” of the systems consists in capabilities to integrate,
extend and reuse software modules in control systems (Lutz & Sperling, 1997). In (Pritschow
& Altintas, 2001) and (Nacsa, 2001) the “degree of openness” of a system is defined by some
criteria, as:
An Open-architecture Robot Controller applied to Interaction Tasks 101
2.2 Categories
The controllers are characterized by the freedom of access information or simply for “degree
of openness”. Usually, the control of several system modules (e.g., unit power and low level
control) is proprietary and cannot be modified by user, other levels are considered open
(e.g., communication interface and high-level control), i.e., they are based on hardware and
software standards with specifications of open interface.
In (Pritschow & Altintas, 2001), (Lutz & Sperling, 1997) and (Ford, 1994), the "degree of
openness" of a system is defined in agreement with access concept to controller layers, like
this, they can be classified in three categories:
Proprietary: That system modality allows the access just to application layer, being
therefore, a closed system. In those systems is extremely difficult or impossible the
integration of external modules.
Hybrid or Restricted: That category makes available the access to application layer and
a controlled access to operating system module. The operating system has a fixed
topology, however, allows small changes in control system modules (e.g., gains and
parameters).
Open: Open-architecture systems allow integral access of application layers and
operating system modules, supplying a homogeneous vision of the system, allowing
the manipulation and modification of all modules that compose the system. Its offers
interchangeability, scalability, portability and interoperability.
2.3 Requirements
One of main requirements for a system to be characterized with open-architecture is the
necessity of the control functionalities be subdivided in small functional units with a solid
relationship among the subsystems. Consequently, the modularity becomes fundamental for
a control system to have an open-architecture (Pritschow & Altintas, 2001).
102 Advances in Robot Manipulators
These operations supply to superior layer a heterogeneity vision of the system to sharing
resources. In this level, peripherals with high-level of abstraction (e.g., exteroceptive
sensors) are also appropriate in this level.
5. Experimental Environment
The retrofitting methodology was validated with the adaptation of an old anthropomorphic
manipulator, model Rv15, produced by the REIS Robotics, for interaction tasks. Where was
substituted the proprietary controller by the new open-architecture controller and coupled a
force sensor in system.
An Open-architecture Robot Controller applied to Interaction Tasks 107
The REIS Rv15 robot has six rotating joints acted by electric motors and the angular
positions measurement are done using incremental optical encoders. It is a manipulator
with a topology that is very common in industry applications, which constitutes an
anthropomorphous arm (joints 1, 2 and 3) with a spherical wrist (joints 4, 5 and 6).
The Fig. 4 presents a complete diagram of the embedded five-layer open-architecture robotic
controller for an industrial manipulator, containing it data flow and the systems
interconnections
The servo motors are controlled through a embedded self-tuning PID controller that uses
the linear actuator dynamic model. The Fig. 6 presents the validation of dynamic model.
(1)
Where, is the mass matrix, is the damping matrix, is the stiffness matrix and
is the interaction force matrix.
Equally to position control for inverse dynamics, where the impedance control is based, the
integral knowledge of manipulator dynamics is admitted. In this way, the accurate
knowledge of object elasticity characteristics or contact environment is not necessary in this
control strategy (Yoshikawa, 2000).
5.5 Results
The implemented control strategy uses force feedback only to regulate the manipulator
impedance, assuming that the manipulator is in contact with operation surface. In this way,
when some force be detected the control law only will regulate the impedance to establish
the system.
The application used to validate the developed controller for interaction tasks is based in
this characteristic of the impedance control, however, in this case, the end-effector isn't in
contact with the surface. Therefore, the manipulator is immobile, admitting to be in wanted
impedance profile, and when detects external force controls the system impedance (Fig. 8).
The joint speed profiles generated in experiments are present in Fig. 9.
6. Conclusion
In this work was considered a new reference model for a control system functional
architecture applied to open-architecture robot controllers. The proposed approach was
applied for integrally developing of a five-layer based open-architecture robotic controller
considering interaction tasks. The architecture uses parallel and distributed processing
techniques and circumvents the necessity of compliance in system, allowing a real-time
processing of the application and the total information control.
Old manipulator retrofitting considers the problem of including controllers with new
functionalities as force control. The main characteristics of these systems are high-stiffness
and position control. These characteristics restrict response time of the system. Therefore, an
open-architecture system can be projected to operate in real-time.
The proposed reference model for open-architecture robot controllers was experimentally
validated including the implementation of an indirect force control strategy in the robot
controller. Practical tests have shown the interest of the proposed architecture in terms of
controller flexibility, costs and maintenance and high capacity of processing.
This reference model clarifies the concept of robot controller and explains the internal
modules that compose robot control unit. The system decomposition makes possible the
optimization of internal modules for a specific task, e.g., interaction tasks. In this way, it is
112 Advances in Robot Manipulators
possible to include new functionalities to the system, e.g., other feedback signals, new
actuators or dedicated processors for a specific problem, e.g., resolution of redundancy or
inverse kinematics.
In the actual stage, the researchers have been focused on the theoretical aspects of the
problem. Further works will consider the model validation and experimental applications.
7. References
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