A general framework for the feedback control of mobile manipulators is proposed. Its main originality lies in its capacity to address in a unified manner both cases of omnidirectional and nonholonomic mobile platforms. It also allows for the execution of the desired manipulation task without the manipulator colliding into its joint limits, whenever these two objectives are compatible. This is o...

This paper considers the nonlinear disturbance decoupling problem for a robotic manipulator that is mounted on a mobile platform. A mobile manipulation system offers a dual advantage of mobility offered by a mobile platform and dexterity offered by the manipulator. In this work, the tracking and nonlinear disturbance decoupling problems are studied with particular focus on disturbances due to u...

In the article it is proposed to improve wave power plants by using a primary manipulator converter (PMC) with the structure of a parallel six-mobile manipulator for converting energy of waves into mechanical energy. There has been developed a physical model of a primary manipulator converter confirming its functionality. There have been obtained geometrical dimensions of a primary manipulator ...

In this paper, a flexible robotic assembly system with decentralized architecture is presented. The system is designed to achieve high reconfigurability so that it can adapt to changes in manufacturing environment; a new robot can be easily installed to the system and execute assembly tasks immediately, together with other devices. For easier reconfiguration, a semi-automated calibration method...

This paper describes a system which uses a mobile manipulator as a teleoperated tool for accessing and manipulating remote objects, in our challenge to extend mobile robot potentials and usage in human daily life. The specific task we set up in this research is to help humans browse books located in a library from a remote location via the Internet. This task was decomposed into three major par...

Mobile manipulation capabilities are key to many new applications of robotics in space, underwater, construction, and service environments. This paper discusses the development of robotic "assistance" capabilities to aid workers in the accomplishment of a variety of physical operations and presents various control strategies developed for vehicle-arm coordination, compliant motion tasks, and co...

This paper presents a novel force control scheme for redundant mobile manipulators. Based on a decoupled and linearized dynamic model for integrated mobile platform and on-board manipulator, robotic tasks involving both position and output force control are discussed. Take the advantage of the kinematic redundancy of mobile manipulators, explicit force and position control at the same task dire...

Abstract. This paper presents a new teleoperation scheme for mobile manipulation systems. A virtual spring connects a master and slave system where local force feedback on the slave system compensates for the dynamics of the mobile manipulator. This scheme is robust in the presence of time delays and disturbances and provides good tele-presence. The slave manipulator is mounted on a mobile base...

The energy efficiency of a robotic manipulator is important, particularly when that manipulator is used in conjunction with a mobile robot with limited battery life. In this paper the energy efficiency (in terms of the electrical energy usage) of a spatial three DOF parallel manipulator is compared to a serial manipulator with the same drive motors and a similar workspace. The effects of endeff...

Mobile robots that consist of a mobile platform with one or many manipulators, are of great interest in a number of applications. This paper presents a methodology for generating paths and trajectories for both the mobile platform and the manipulator that will take a system from an initial configuration to a pre-specified final one, without violating the nonholonomic constraint. The generated p...