Optimal Impedance Control of A 3 DOF Robot

This study aims to optimize the impedance control of a 3 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot in various industrial applications, such as pushing, polishing, cleaning, and grinding. In these applications, the robot manipulator needs to interact with the environment to achieve the desired task, making it imperative to control the interaction between the robot and the environment. The impedance controller is an effective approach that regulates the dynamic relationship between the robot and the environment, which is crucial for performing these tasks accurately and efficiently. Unlike force/position hybrid controllers that have separate subspaces for force and position control, the proposed impedance controller aims to regulate the relationship between the force and the position of the end effector in contact with the environment. This approach ensures that the robot manipulator endpoint follows both the desired force profile and the desired position accurately. Additionally, the proposed method allows for planning a virtual trajectory to obtain a desired force profile when the environment has a rigid structure with known properties. To optimize the proposed impedance controller, the Bees Algorithm was used. The numerical application results demonstrate that the optimized impedance controller allows the robot manipulator endpoint to follow both the desired force profile and the desired position accurately, providing a practical solution for controlling the interaction between the robot manipulator and the environment in various industrial applications. The significance of this study lies in its potential to improve the performance of industrial robots in applications that require interaction with the environment. By using an optimized impedance controller, the robot can perform its task accurately and efficiently, reducing the risk of errors and improving productivity.