A Framework for Implementing Cooperative Motion on Industrial Controllers

The use of two or more robots jointly manipulating a common object, termed cooperative control, has many advantages in industrial applications. Much of the previous work on cooperative control, however, has emphasized capabilities, such as joint torque control, not generally present on industrial robots. This paper applies the concept of cooperative control to industrial robots by taking advantage of those capabilities that do exist on industrial robots. Specifically, a design approach that makes use of tool-based coordinate systems, trajectory generation, real-time modification, and distributed control of multiple robots is presented. These concepts are implemented on a system of two industrial robots using an adaptive fuzzy controller, and the results are discussed.