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Title: Whole arm obstacle avoidance for teleoperated robots

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10103280

This paper describes a collision avoidance system using Whole Arm Proximity (WHAP) sensors on a PUMA 560 robot arm. The capacitance-based sensors generate electric fields which can completely encompass the robot arm and detect obstacles as they approach from any direction. The directional obstacle information gathered by the WHAP sensors together with the sensor geometry and robot configuration is used to scale the commanded joint velocities of the robot. A linearized relationship between the WHAP sensor reading and the distance from the obstacle allows direct transformation of perturbations in VHAP readings to perturbations in joint velocities. The VHAP reading is used to directly reduce the component of the command input velocity along the normal axis of the sensor, allowing graceful reductions in speed as the arm approaches the obstacle. By scaling only the component of the velocity vector in the,direction of the nearest obstacles, the control system restricts motion in the direction of obstacles while permitting unconstrained motion in other directions.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
10103280
Report Number(s):
SAND-93-2380C; CONF-940550-5; ON: DE94001419; BR: GB0103012
Resource Relation:
Conference: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) international conference on robotics,San Diego, CA (United States),8-13 May 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1993]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English