On-line method and apparatus for coordinated mobility and manipulation of mobile robots
US5550953A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 20, 1994 |
| Grant date | Aug 27, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 20, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG05B2219/40349
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A simple and computationally efficient approach is disclosed for on-line coordinated control of mobile robots consisting of a manipulator arm mounted on a mobile base. The effect of base mobility on the end-effector manipulability index is discussed. The base mobility and arm manipulation degrees-of-freedom are treated equally as the joints of a kinematically redundant composite robot. The redundancy introduced by the mobile base is exploited to satisfy a set of user-defined additional tasks during the end-effector motion. A simple on-line control scheme is proposed which allows the user to assign weighting factors to individual degrees-of-mobility and degrees-of-manipulation, as well as to each task specification. The computational efficiency of the control algorithm makes it particularly suitable for real-time implementations. Four case studies are discussed in detail to demonstrate the application of the coordinated control scheme to various mobile robots.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.