Impedance Control: An Approach to Manipulation

Manipulation fundamentally requires a manipulator to be mechanically coupled to the object being manipulated. A consideration of the physical constraints imposed by dynamic interaction shows that control of a vector quantity such as position or force is inadequate and that control of the manipulator impedance is also necessary. Techniques for control of manipulator behaviour are presented which result in a unified approach to kinematically constrained motion, dynamic interaction, target acquisition and obstacle avoidance.