Dynamics and Cooperative Object Manipulation Control of Suspended Mobile Manipulators

Dynamics and control of mobile manipulators is obviously a more challenging problem compared to fixed-base robots. Including a suspension system for these mobile platforms increases their maneuverability, but considerably adds to their complexity. In this paper, a suspended wheeled mobile platform with two 6-DOF Puma-type manipulators is used to manipulate an object along a given path. To apply a model-based control algorithm, it is required to have an explicit dynamics model for such highly nonlinear system. This model should be as concise as possible to include fewer mathematical calculations for online computations. Therefore in this paper, a detailed set of dynamics equations for a multiple arm wheeled mobile platform equipped with an effective suspension system is presented. The method is based on the concept of Direct Path Method (DPM), which is extended here for such challenging type of robots. The obtained dynamics model is then verified with a dynamical analysis study using software ADAMS. Then, Natural Orthogonal Complement Method is used to include the non-holonomic constraint of the wheeled platform in a more concise dynamics model. Next, an impedance control law is applied for cooperative manipulation of an object by the two manipulators. The obtained results for a suspended wheeled platform equipped with two 6-DOF Pumatype manipulators reveal a successful performance for moving an object along a mixed circular-straight path, even in the presence of unexpected disturbing forces, system/end-effector flexibility and impacts due to contact with an obstacle.