Shared control with flexible obstacle avoidance for manipulator

Abstract

This paper presents a new control method that enable the robot pushes the obstacle while it moves to the target. In this paper, the shared control combines the user command—always directed at the target, and the machine command—to control the robot to avoid obstacles. And traditional obstacle avoidance requires to find a collision free path, which will find no solution in clutter environment. With pushing obstacles, the robot can solve a problem which was unsolvable, or find a more optimal solution (such as less motion for all joints). However, how to ensure the safety of pushing is a challenge. In this paper, an enhanced artificial potential field obstacle avoidance method is proposed, and a potential field for guaranteeing the safety of pushing is defined. The proposed method is test in simulation system, and the result shows that the proposed method is effective.