Development of an Adaptive Force Control Strategy for Soft Robotic Gripping

Using soft materials in robotic mechanisms has become a common solution to overcome many challenges associated with the rigid bodies frequently used in robotics. Compliant mechanisms allow the robot to adapt to objects and perform a broader range of tasks, unlike rigid bodies that are generally designed for specific applications. However, soft robotics presents its own set of challenges in both design and implementation, particularly in sensing and control. These challenges are abundant when dealing with the force control problem of a compliant gripping mechanism. The ability to effectively regulate the applied force of a gripper is a critical task in many control operations, as it allows the precise manipulation of objects, which drives the need for enhanced force control strategies for soft or flexible grippers. Standard sensing techniques, such as motor current monitoring and strain-based sensors, add complexities and uncertainties when establishing mathematical models of soft grippers to the required gripping forces. In addition, the soft gripper creates a complex non-linear system, compounded by adding an adhesive-type sensor. This work develops a unique visual force sensor trained on synthetic data generated using finite element analysis (FEA) and implemented by integrating a non-linear model reference adaptive controller (MRAC) to control gripping force on a fixed 6-DOF robot. The robot can be placed on a mobile platform to perform various tasks. The virtual FEA sensor and controller, combined, are termed virtual reference adaptive control (VRAC). The VRAC was compared to other methods and achieved comparable control sensing and control performance while reducing the complexity of the sensor requirements and its integration. The VRAC strategy effectively controlled the gripping force by driving the dynamics to match the desired performance after a limited amount of training cycles. The controller proposed in this work was designed to be generally applicable to most objects that the gripper will interact with and easily adaptable to a wide variety of soft grippers.